ArticlePloS one2017
How people used ochre at Rose Cottage Cave, South Africa: Sixty thousand years of evidence from the Middle Stone Age.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Palaeoproteomic investigation of archaeological sediments associated with ochre use in the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2026Article
- Unveiling the multifunctional use of ochre in the Middle Stone Age: Specialized ochre retouchers from Blombos Cave.Science advances · 2025Article
- Ochre communities of practice in Stone Age Eswatini.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Red Balloon rock shelter Middle Stone Age ochre assemblage and population's adaption to local resources in the Waterberg (Limpopo, South Africa).Archaeological and anthropological sciences · 2023Article
- A Brief History of Colour, the Environmental Impact of Synthetic Dyes and Removal by Using Laccases.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Paleoindian ochre mines in the submerged caves of the Yucatán Peninsula, Quintana Roo, Mexico.Science advances · 2020Article
- Hunter-Gatherers Harvested and Heated Microbial Biogenic Iron Oxides to Produce Rock Art Pigment.Scientific reports · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We describe colour, hardness, grain size, geological type and surface modifications of ochre pieces excavated, first by Malan and later by Harper, from the Middle Stone Age (MSA) of Rose Cottage Cave, 96, 000 to 30, 000 years ago. Soft, bright-red shales are abundant, and most ochre has clayey or silty grain sizes. The post-Howiesons Poort layers contain the most ochre pieces, but the Howiesons Poort layers have the highest frequency of ochre per sediment volume. The pre-Howiesons Poort layers have the highest utilization rate. Use-traces include rubbing, grinding, combined grinding and rubbing, and rare instances of scoring. The processing techniques are proxies for ochre use. Rubbing transfers red ochre powder directly onto soft surfaces, such as human skin, or animal hide. This is appropriate when skin colouring and marking or skin protection (for example from sun, insects or bacteria) is the purpose. Grinding produces ochre powder that can be used for a variety of tasks. It can be mixed with water or other products to create paint, cosmetics or adhesives. Multiple uses of ochre powder and ochre pieces are therefore implied at Rose Cottage and changes through time are apparent.
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