Menu Close

Articles on ochre

Displaying all articles

Necklaces and earrings in traditional Kenyan cultures denote messages about marriage and childbearing. from www.shutterstock.com

How ‘bling’ makes us human

Why is jewellery so important to the story of human evolution? Because it provides a public message – even to people we don’t know.
Indigenous Australians use ochre to add colour and detail to items such as this shield at the South Australian Museum. Image courtesy of South Australian Museum

When bacteria tell a story: tracing Indigenous Australian ochre sources via microbial ‘fingerprinting’

Ochre is more than just paint - it tells stories of culture and trade in Indigenous Australians. Using museum artefacts plus science can track ochre sources and untangle a lost history.
Impala drink at a waterhole in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Milk used in paint nearly 49,000 years ago could have come from their early antecedents. EPA/Jon Hrusa

Paint gives clues about the ingenuity of ancient culture

It may have been a cultural tradition to use tempera paint that contained traces of milk on bodies according to a discovery at Sibudu Caves in KwaZulu Natal.

Top contributors

More