What is the origin of the color ochre?
Prehistory and early history. Later the Latin and Italian name sinopia was given to wide range of dark red ochre pigments. The Romans used yellow ochre in their paintings to represent gold and skin tones, and as a background colour. It is found frequently in the murals of Pompeii .
Where is ochre found in nature?
The clay hills of Roussillon, Vaucluse, in Provence have been an important source of ochre pigment since the 18th century. Yellow and red ochre pigment was used in prehistoric and ancient times by many different civilizations on different continents.
What is the meaning of red ocher?
"Red ocher" redirects here. For the indigenous people of North America, see Red Ocher people. Ochre ( / ˈoʊkər / OH-kər; from Ancient Greek: ὤχρα, from ὠχρός, ōkhrós, pale), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. [1]
Where did the red ocher live?
Great Lakes: Ontario, SW Michigan, W Ohio, Northern Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin. The Red Ocher people were an indigenous people of North America.
What mineral does red ochre come from?
hematiteRed ochre is composed mailnly of iron oxide, hematite which word comes from Greek, hema meaning blood. Used from prehistory and throughout history, these permanent pigments can be safely mixed with other pigments.
How do you get red ochre?
Limonite, a mineraloid containing iron hydroxide, is the main ingredient of all the ochre pigments. Hematite is a more reddish variety of iron oxide, and is the main ingredient of red ochre. When limonite is roasted, it turns partially to the more reddish hematite and becomes red ochre or burnt sienna.
Where does the colour ochre come from?
Yellow ochre is a natural mineral consisting of silica and clay owing its color to an iron oxyhydroxide mineral, goethite. It is found throughout the world, in many shades, in hues from yellow to brown. The best brown ochre comes from Cyprus.
Where is ochre found in the US?
Ochre is a naturally occurring iron oxide pigment found in the interior coastal plains of Texas and farther inland. Ochre comes in a variety of colors, from brown to red to yellow, however red ochre is the most common type found among coastal assemblages.
Can we eat red ochre?
After being mined, red ocher is pounded and ground down into a type of powder, which can be used raw or after being cooked with vinegar.
Why was red ochre used in burials?
There are several theories as to why ochre was used in some Stone Age graves. Some believe that the function of the red ochre was to mark the grave so that no one accidentally dug down into it afterwards. Others believe that the ochre could have been used to tan or colour the skin clothes that the buried people wore.
What color is red ochre?
reddish-orangeRed ochre is a muted shade of reddish-orange with the hex code #913831, an earthy tone inspired by red ochre pigment. That pigment, along with others like umber and sienna, has been used in paintings since prehistoric times.
How many colors of ochre are there?
ochre, a native earth coloured with hydrated iron oxide. It varies in colour from pale yellow to deep red, brown, and violet. There are two kinds: one has a clayey basis, while the other is a chalky earth. The former variety is in general the richer and purer in colour of the two.
What is red ocher used for?
Ochre is used as an adhesive. Its powder is an effective aggregate in resin adhesives to mount tools onto handles or shafts. Evidence of it being used in this way is found in the Middle Stone Age.
Is ochre a rock or mineral?
Ochre (pronounced OAK-er) is clay pigmented by hematite, a reddish mineral that contains oxidized iron, which is iron that's been mixed with oxygen, said Paul Pettitt, a professor of paleolithic archaeology at Durham University in the United Kingdom.
What is the difference between ocher and ochre?
Ocher and ochre are different spellings of the same word, referring to (1) any of several earthy mineral oxides of iron occurring in brown, yellow, or red and used as pigments, and (2) a moderate orange yellow. The only difference is that ocher is the American spelling while ochre is preferred outside the U.S.
What type of rock is ochre?
At its simplest, ochre is defined as an earthy deposit predominantly composed of metal-rich oxides or oxide-hydroxides. By far and away, iron ochres are the commonest, but ochres of other metallic elements such as cobalt, nickel, copper etc. can also form.
How is ochre formed?
Ochres form in the surface or near-surface environment, in the presence of oxygen and water. Iron ochre formation is accelerated by warmer Mediterranean or tropical climates, and the presence of red rocks is therefore often indicative of past warm climates in the rock record.
How do you make ochre color?
0:001:52Mix Yellow Ochre with just Yellow, Red, and Black - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAdd a little bit of black to it. Needs more yellow. And just play with the temperature.MoreAdd a little bit of black to it. Needs more yellow. And just play with the temperature.
What is red ochre?
Red ochre consists of silica and clay owing its color to iron oxide. It is found throughout the world, in many shades, in hues from yellow to brown, and faint blue. The best brown ochre comes from Cyprus. Red and yellow ochre pigments abound at the surface in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
How do you make ochre dye?
To mix your own yellow ochre you can:Start with any base yellow. In the picture above I used cadmium yellow.Add a touch of red to darken and warm the yellow.Add a touch of blue to darken and desaturate the yellow.Make any further adjustments as necessary.
Why is ochre red?
If yellow ochre is subjected to temperatures above 300 degrees Celcius the water is expelled from the molecules. This caused the colour to change from yellow –> orange –> red. There is evidence that humans have been using this process to create red ochre since the Middle Stone. Even today, most red ochre is produced this way, as the naturally occurring red ochre is not usually a pure enough shade of red.
What is ochre made of?
Pure red ochre is composed of Iron Oxide (Fe 2 O 3) which is also referred to as hematite. The other forms of ochre have water incorporated in their molecular structure which causes them to be yellow/orange in color. In cases where ochre has brown hues, manganese is usually present.
Where can I find ochre in Newfoundland?
In Newfoundland & Labrador, Deposits of ochre are found near Fortune Harbour (Notre Dame Bay) , Ochre Pit Cove (Conception Bay) and along the Shanapeushipis River in Labrador (Jenkinson and Ashini, 2014, p. 100-101). The earliest settlers likely used locally collected ochre as a pigment for their paints that were used to protect their stages and outbuildings. However, as time passed inhabitants were later able to purchase powdered ochre through local merchants. Most of this ochre was imported from England. That said, usage of local ochre for paint by frugal Newfoundlanders continued well into the 1970’s.
Where are the Red Ocher people?
Red Ocher people. Great Lakes: Ontario, SW Michigan, W Ohio, Northern Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin. The Red Ocher people were an indigenous people of North America. A series of archaeological sites located in the Upper Great Lakes, the Greater Illinois River Valley, and the Ohio River Valley in the American Midwest have been ...
When was red ocher first used?
There is considerable variation from site to site in the few sites with this artifact. The term "Red Ocher" was first used in 1937 as a description from three sites in central Illinois. Some additional sites have since been recognized as Red Ocher because of their cultural similarity to these. There is not a broad synthesis of the existing information and it is easily confused the Glacial Kame Culture.
When was the Red Ocher culture first discovered?
The people today known as Red Ocher were first identified by the University of Chicago in 1937. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Red Ocher Culture was a topic of great interest among archaeologists who were trying to better define the burial culture through various methods of research.
Where is ochre found?
Where it's found. Ochre occurs naturally in rocks and soil — essentially in any environment where iron minerals have pooled and formed, Pettitt said. "It can be found in valley edges, eroding out of cliffs [or even] in caves eroding out of the bedrock," Pettitt told Live Science. In its more eroded form, ochre can be found in certain soils ...
What color is ochre?
People who pick up ochre will notice that it stains their hands a "nice red or yellow color," Pettitt noted. Once collected, ochre can easily be grated against a coarse piece of stone or ground by a mortar and pestle and then turned into a powder. Then, this powder can be mixed with a liquid, such as water, saliva or egg whites, and turned into pigmented paint.
What is the mineral that contains oxidized iron?
Ochre (pronounced OAK-er) is clay pigmented by hematite, a reddish mineral that contains oxidized iron, which is iron that's been mixed with oxygen, said Paul Pettitt, a professor of paleolithic archaeology at Durham University in the United Kingdom.
How many pieces of ochre were found?
There, archaeologists found about 70 pieces of ochre weighing about 11 lbs. (5 kilograms). However, more convincing evidence dates to about 250,000 years ago at the early Neanderthal site of Maastricht-Belvédère in the Netherlands, Pettitt said.
Why is ochre considered a symbol of life?
As a bright red pigment, it's possible that ancient people saw ochre as a symbol of life, in part because it is the color of blood, especially deep-red menstrual blood. "Some societies quite commonly associate the color red, and therefore ochre, with creation, life and fertility," Pettitt said. (However, not everyone agrees.
What is ochre in art?
Artists have been painting with ochre, a naturally occurring pigment, for hundreds of thousands of years. Their masterpieces range from prehistoric, ochre-pigmented images on cave walls to paintings on canvasses and other artwork from medieval times and onward. Ochre (pronounced OAK-er) is clay pigmented by hematite, ...
Where did Homo sapiens find ochre?
Early Homo sapiens also illustrated with ochre. At Blombos Cave, in South Africa, archaeologists found an abalone shell containing finely ground ochre, charcoal and fat that may have made up a painting kit dating to about 100,000 years ago, Nowell said.
Where is ochre found?
Ochre is very common on archaeological sites worldwide. Certainly, Upper Paleolithic cave art in Europe and Australia contain the generous use of the mineral: but ochre use is much older. The earliest possible use of ochre discovered so far is from a Homo erectus site about 285,000 years old.
Where is the ochre?
Ochre was part of the first art of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) phase in Africa called Howiesons Poort. The early modern human assemblages of 100,000-year-old MSA sites including Blombos Cave and Klein Kliphuis in South Africa have been found to include examples of engraved ochre, slabs of ochre with carved patterns deliberately cut into the surface.
What is the role of ochre in human evolution?
Spanish paleontologist Carlos Duarte (2014) has even suggested that using red ochre as a pigment in tattoos (and otherwise ingested) may have had a role in human evolution, as it would have been a source of iron directly to the human brain, perhaps making us smarter. The presence of ochre mixed with milk proteins on an artifact from a 49,000-year-old MSA level at Sibudu cave in South Africa is suggested to have been used to make the ochre liquid, probably by killing a lactating bovid (Villa 2015).
What is ochre pigment?
Her work has appeared in scholarly publications such as Archaeology Online and Science. Ochre (rarely spelled ocher and often referred to as yellow ochre) is one of a variety of forms of iron oxide which are described as earth-based pigments. These pigments, used by ancient and modern artists, are made of iron oxyhydroxide, ...
How much iron oxyhydroxide is in ochre?
Getting Red from Yellow. Ochre contains a minimum of 12% iron oxyhydroxide, but the amount can range up to 30% or more, giving rise to the wide range of colors from light yellow to red and brown.
What are natural pigments made of?
Before the 18th and 19th century, most pigments used by artists were of natural origin, made up of mixtures of organic dyes, resins, waxes, and minerals.
Where was ochre discovered?
By 250,000-200,000 years ago, Neanderthals were using ochre, at the Maastricht Belvédère site in The Netherlands (Roebroeks) and the Benzu rock shelter in Spain.
What is red ochre?
Red Ochre is an earth pigment containing iron molecules. “The iron molecules in red ochre paint align themselves with magnetic north and when the paint has dried, the direction of the iron molecules can be used to date any artwork that is still in the exact location in which it was first painted (i.e. frescos)" (Zagorski, 2007). Red Ochre has been mined in many places, most notably Western and Southern Australia, Spain, Roussillon and Luberon in France, the Tuscany region of Italy, and the Great Lakes Region in the United States. In ancient times, red ochre was used in religious ceremonies, including burials. Because red ochre is non-toxic it has a history of being used as body paint in many cultures.
Where is cochineal dye found?
Carminic acid is extracted from egg bearing female insects by crushing them. Cochineal insects were originally found and later cultivated in Mexico and Peru, where they feed on prickly pear cacti. Cochineal is currently cultivated in South Africa and the Canary Islands, while Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Chile remain major exporters. In the 19th century CE, cochineal cultivation was established by the Dutch on Japanese soil to boost their economy. Traditionally cochineal dye was used to color fabric and fiber. Today, the dye is used worldwide as a red colorant in food and cosmetics.
What is green earth?
Green earths, also known as glauconites, celadonites, or chlorites, are rocks rich in green clay. The glauconites are formed in cold water sediments and are very abundant, especially in France. Pigment made from glauconites is popular for use in oil painting. Unlike glauconites, however, pure celadonite green earth is much less abundant, This puts it in much higher demand. "The exploitable veins of celadonite could be counted on one hand. Two were particularly well-known, one in Cyprus, where celadonite was mined by the ton until the 19th century, and one in Monte Baldo, near Verona" (Delamare, 28).
What is the name of the insect that lives on the leaves of oak trees?
The kermes insect is a cousin of cochineal. It lives and feeds on the leaves and branches of Mediterranean oak trees, known as kermes oaks, rather than cacti that cochineal prefer. The Ancient Egyptians crushed the kermes insect in to make a red dye, which they added to a colorless powder to create carmine lake. The dyestuff was largely produced in the Mediterranean region, where the insects were readily available. Though the color crimson was named after the dye produced by the kermes insect, its popularity as a red colorant was eventually surpassed by cochineal.
What is verdigris made of?
Verdigris is a green colorant made from the corrosion of copper. The copper used to produce verdigris came from Spain and Greece, with Cyprus being one of the best original sources. Verdigris was readily available in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, when it was used enthusiastically by artists and map makers alike, It can be used to produce an array of greens, greenish-browns and blues. The downside to verdigris is its corrosive nature, which continues to eat away at paper and canvas long after it is applied. Due to its accessibility and low cost, verdigris remained popular long after other, less destructive, green colorants were introduced.
What is red lead?
Synthetic red lead is a colorant created by heating synthetic white lead. The resulting pigment produces a dark, opaque red that was popular for use in the details of hand painted maps. Synthetic red lead is also known as minium, a name derived from the Minius river, where the lead originates. “Minium was so popular among Persian and Indian Mughal artists [of the Middle Ages] that their work became known as “miniatures”: the word is nothing to do with the size of their paintings" (Finlay, 2004).
Where does annatto come from?
Traditionally annatto seeds were pulped into a paste and used by native people of Central and South America as a body paint, as well as medicinally. Today annatto is used primarily as a food dye. In the United States dyes made from annatto are considered "natural," and show up in the ingredient lists of many orange colored natured food products.
Why is red ochre used in Egyptian art?
Fun Fact: In ancient Egypt, red ochre was used as a cosmetic for women to color their lips and cheeks. During celebrations, people would color their bodies with the pigment. In Egyptian culture, red had associations with life, health, and victory. The pigment was also often used in wall paintings.
Where did the red color come from?
One of the oldest forms of red comes from clay given a red hue by the mineral hematite. In fact, evidence has been found that people in the Late Stone Age were grinding red ochre to paint their bodies. Red, along with white and black, was one of the only colors used by artists in the Paleolithic age because it was easily obtainable in nature. The prehistoric cave paintings in Altamira, Spain, which date between 15000 and 16500 BC are early examples of paintings with red ochre.
Why is vermilion red?
In China, vermilion’s importance has caused it to be known as “ Chinese red .”. The color is thought to be symbolic of life and good fortune and was used to paint temples and the Emperor’s carriage. Fun fact: In Medieval times, synthetic vermilion was as costly as gold leaf.
What color is Vermilion?
While the pigment is typically an orange-red, one known defect is that it tends to darken over time, becoming a dark purplish-brown. Vermilion remained the most popular red pigment through the 20th century, until its toxicity and expense caused most artists to switch to Cadmium red.
Why are Louboutin shoes red?
More than merely a color, it has become a symbol of wealth and style. Fun fact: Louboutin’s signature red soles came about by accident. While working on a prototype, he felt it was missing something. That’s when he noticed an assistant painting her nails red and decided to coat the black sole of the shoes red as well.
Which painter used carmine to make his paintings red?
Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Velázquez are just some of the painters that used carmine to obtain a rich red hue. The pigment must be used carefully, however, as it can change color when exposed to light. Fun fact: Cochineal insects were a valuable European import in the 16th century, coming in third after gold and silver.
What color was used in the Paleolithic era?
Red, along with white and black, was one of the only colors used by artists in the Paleolithic age because it was easily obtainable in nature. The prehistoric cave paintings in Altamira, Spain, which date between 15000 and 16500 BC are early examples of paintings with red ochre. Red was also prominent in ancient China, ...
Where is red ochre found?
Its use is particularly ancient as demonstrated by a number of major archaeological sites. Finds of red ochre at Keniff Cave in Queensland date back to the earliest occupation some 19,000 years ago, with similar ages suggested at other diggings including Miriwun in the Kimberley, Arnhem Land, and Cloggs Cave in Victoria ( Mulvaney in Peterson, 1975: 155 ). Perhaps the most impressive evidence of its ancient use, however, comes from the Lake Mungo site in the Willandra Lakes area of western New South Wales. Here a 40,000 year ritual burial, known as Mungo Man, was found covered in over two kilograms of red ochre.
How did the ochre form?
In the local Wajarri people’s tradition, the ochre is said to have been formed by the death of a great kangaroo, speared by the Spirit Being called Mondong. In an agonizing leap, the kangaroo landed at what is now Wilgie Mia, spilling the red ochre his blood, the yellow his river, and green his gall.
How deep is the ochre mine?
This is a most remarkable mine, with open cut excavations between 15 and 30 metres in width and up to 20 metres deep, from which numerous small caves and galleries branch off.
What is the purpose of ochre?
Ochre helped to condition and preserve the wood and was believed to imbue the artefacts with spiritual powers for hunting and ceremonial purposes . The natural earth pigment ochre was also used extensively throughout Aboriginal Australia for rock art and is considered to be the earliest known paint form used by humans.
Where was ochre mined?
The deposits where the best ochre was mined, such as the Yarrakina at Parachilna in the Flinders Ranges in South ...
Why do mosquitoes like ochre?
Mosquitos particularly are attracted by odours emitted by humans such as carbon dioxide and perspiration. Applying ochre acted as a protective shield that concealed bodily odours. This ability to mask human scent was also advantageous for hunters stalking large game, such as kangaroo and emu.
Where are the Ochre paintings?
Ochre paintings on cave walls near Laura on the northern tip of Queensland, as well as images of rain spirit figures in the far north west of Australia, date back 30,000 years. And other sites can be found in South Australia ’s Flinders Ranges, around Broken Hill – Lake Mungo -Mootwingee in NSW and along the Murray river, in Victoria ’s Grampians, in the southern and northern tablelands of NSW, around Sydney, in the Blue Mountains and the Shoalhaven area of NSW, and in many parts of Tasmania.
Where did the pigment come from?
The pigment, however, did not originate from an equally romantic source. It was made from the urine of cattle who had been fed an exclusive diet of mango leaves. The practice of essentially starving cows in order to acquire a small amount of coloring agent was eventually outlawed in the early 20th century.
What is the color of carmine?
Our final example of an organic source for a coloring agent is carmine that produces a deep red crimson color. Carmine is one of those agents that can be either a pigment or a dye and that’s partially what has made it so valuable. Extracted from ground up cochineal insects common to Central and South America, carmine became very popular with painters and garment makers in Europe after it was introduced by returning Spanish explorers during the 16th century. This is the dye used to color the robes of Catholic Cardinals and it was the color source for the English army’s redcoats.
Why is Tyrion purple used?
The use of Tyrion Purple dates back more than 3,000 years to the ancient Phoenicians. Because this dye was so rare and difficult to make, the color purple was reserved for the garments of royalty and extremely wealthy individuals.
What is the pigment used to make black?
Burnt wood, for example, produces charcoal used to make black. Different clay soils are used to create ochre and browns such as burnt umber and raw sienna. Charcoal, soot, clay and iron ore were common pigments used by pre-historic people creating images on cave walls.
What color is used in Dutch paintings?
Indian yellow is another of these exotic pigments and was very popular with Dutch painters in the 17th and 18th centuries. Indian yellow was the basis for the pale, luminescent depiction of sunshine in many of their landscape paintings. The pigment, however, did not originate from an equally romantic source.
Do artists' materials come from real sources?
Surrounded by all these new ephemeral images it is easy to overlook, or even forget, that artists’ materials originally came from very real sources. Some of those sources were, and are, common, but some are quite exotic. In future posts I’ll talk about other art materials but for this blog post let’s take a quick look at pigments and dyes – the substances that produce the colors used to make paints and inks as well as for coloring fabrics.
Prehistoric and Historic Uses
The Red Ocher people were an indigenous people of North America. A series of archaeological sites located in the Upper Great Lakes, the Greater Illinois River Valley, and the Ohio River Valley in the American Midwest have been discovered to be a Red Ocher burial complex, dating from 1000 BC to 400 BC, the Terminal Archaic – Early Woodland period. Characterized as shallow burials located in sandy ridges along river valleys, covered in red ochre or hydrated iron oxide (FeH3O), th…
Natural Earth Pigments
Getting Red from Yellow
How Old Is Ochre use?
Ochre and Human Evolution
Identifying The Sources
Sources