Paintings of hunting scenes in the prehistoric cave of Lascaux in France, ceremonies and body paintings by indigenous peoples worldwide, works of art from the Middle Ages - ochre, a naturally occurring, lightfast earth mineral, has always been used by humans as a dye and for ritual purposes. "We can say that ochre is the earliest known pigment used by humans to depict our world," explains Dr. Gregor D. Bader from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen, who led the study: ,,Our species and other hominins have been using the red, yellow or even purple earth mineral for at least 500,000 years - if not longer."
In the most comprehensive study to date on the use of ochre in Africa, Bader and an international research team have now investigated how the earth mineral was used south of the Sahara. Using 173 samples from fifteen Stone Age sites, the researchers reconstructed the regional networks of mineral selection, extraction, transportation and use of ochre.
"We were interested in the entire ochre processing chain: From the selection of the mineral from different geological formations, its extraction, the admixture of other substances such as milk, fat, blood and plant resins as binding agents, to its transportation to the archaeological sites," explains the Tübingen scientist and continues: "’How was the knowledge of ochre extraction passed on’ Was there an exchange between different hunter-gatherer groups’ And are there regional or temporal differences’" In the new study, the scientists from Eswatini, the USA and Europe show that there were both local strategies for procuring ochre and long-distance transportation of the important mineral via a network of different mineral deposits. The archaeometric investigations at fifteen archaeological sites suggest that there appears to have been a long-standing cultural continuity in the intergenerational transmission of knowledge about ochre extraction and use, including geological conditions or desired physicochemical properties of mineral pigments. These communities of practice did not develop in isolation, but were part of a broader system of relationships that was influenced and mediated by social interactions such as technological learning, seasonal migrations, the exchange of material culture and symbolic expression, the study states.
"Our data supports the assumption that hunters and gatherers were very mobile in Eswatini in the Stone Age and sometimes traveled long distances to transport ochre pigments," says Bader. It is remarkable that such traditions in Eswatini continue to the present day. It is known from ethnographic studies, for example, that plant healers travel to collect mineral earth pigments for painting and healing ceremonies. Ochre is also considered an important part of a wedding ceremony - the bride is covered with red ochre and animal fat on the morning of the wedding to signal her new status in the community.
Our recent work impressively shows that researchers from Eswatini are leaders in the study of Stone Age ochre sources and that the country has an immense wealth of this important pigment. As well as unraveling the ochre exchange chain, the study also used Optically Stimulated Luminescence dating to show that the Lion Cavern at Ngwenya is the oldest known evidence of intensive ochre mining in the world, dating back some 48,000 years. It is also one of the oldest examples of humans actively changing the appearance of their environment," concludes Bader.
Publication
MacDonald, B.L., Velliky, E.C., Forrester, B. et al. Ochre communities of practice in Stone Age Eswatini. Nat Commun 15, 9201 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467’024 -53050-6
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