S
meared on shells, piled in graves, stamped and stenciled on cave
walls from South Africa to Australia, Germany to Peru, ochre
has been a part of the human story since our very start — and
perhaps even earlier.
For decades, researchers believed the iron-rich rocks used as
pigment at prehistoric sites had symbolic value. But as archaeologists
turn up evidence of functional uses for the material, they’re realizing
early humans’ relationship with ochre is more complex.
Tammy Hodgskiss, an archaeologist at the University of Witwatersrand in South
Africa, has studied sites in that country such as Rose Cottage Cave, where evidence
of ochre use spans more than 60,000 years.
“People may say ochre is the earliest form of art and symbolism, but there’s
more to it,” she says. “Ochre shows how our brains were developing, and that we
were using our environment. It bridges the divide between art and science.”
Ochre is, in fact, one of the most important proxies researchers have for charting
the evolution of human cognition. Hodgskiss adds, “We look at the action
sequences to see what cognitive abilities were needed: Did it have to be heated? Did
it need to be buried in the hearth?”
And recent finds in Africa have pushed back the start date for our species’ long
love affair with the material, hinting that modern human cognition may have
developed much earlier than we thought. Even more intriguing: A handful of
researchers now suspect ochre may have actually fueled both brain development
and our species’ expansion around the globe.
“The emergence of modern human behavior is one of the most important debates
happening now,” says archaeologist Daniela Rosso of the University of Bordeaux
and University of Barcelona. “And ochre plays a central role in that debate.”34 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
The ochre cliffs
of Rousillon, France,
are a striking example
of the iron-rich
rocks, though ochre
is commonly found
in many forms
around the world.
WESTEND61 GMBH/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO