Ochre, the First Color

The word “ochre” comes from the Greek language, originally meaning “pale yellow.” Ochre is a natural clay earth pigment made of a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in color from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colors produced by this pigment, especially a light brownish-yellow.

A variant of ochre containing a large amount of hematite, or dehydrated iron oxide, has a reddish tint known as “red ochre.” The range of earth pigments include yellow ochre, red ochre, purple ochre, sienna, and umber. The major ingredient of all the ochres, iron oxide-hydroxide, known as limonite, renders a yellow color.

Ochre occurs naturally in rocks and soil in any environment where iron minerals have pooled and formed, including valley edges, cliffs or in caves eroding out of the bedrock. Other than serving as paint, ochre was used to tan hides, as mosquito repellent, for protection against the sun or cold, for medicinal purposes, for use in the extraction or processing of plants, and as an adhesive, such as attaching handles to stone tools. Because ochre is a mineral, it doesn't wash away or decay, hence the existence of ancient examples of art and traditions using ochre.

• The practice of ochre painting has been prevalent among Indigenous Australian people for over 40,000 years. Really good ochre was a prized trade item right up until the 1980s.
• In Africa, archeologists discovered ochre mines dating back 40,000 years.
• A highly prized form of ochre came from the Black Sea city of Sinope, in the area now known as Turkey. It was deemed so valuable that the paint was stamped with a special seal, known as sealed Sinope. Sinopia soon became synonymous for red ochre. 
  

History

Ochre was the first paint color. Traces of it can be found on every continent since painting began. Iron oxide is one of the most common minerals found on earth, and there is ample evidence that yellow and red ochre pigment was used in prehistoric and ancient times by many different civilizations on different continents.

• The first American settlers named the indigenous people Red Indians because of the red ochre that they used as body paint.
• Red ochre paint was used in ancient China, evident from early examples of black and red pottery dating between 5000 and 3000 BC.

• Ochre is often found in ancient burials. It’s thought that the clothing was dyed with ochre, but as the clothing decayed, the ochre stained the grave and bones red. Originally thought to be the bones of an indecent woman, the stained red bones of the famous Red Lady of Paviland in South Wales, UK, was actually the remains of a young man who lived 33,000 years ago during the Paleolithic age.

• Researchers diving into dark submerged caves on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula have found evidence of an ambitious mining operation for red ochre from 12,000 years ago.

• Frequent references in Irish myth to “red men” suggest that the practice of body painting with red ochre was common to the ancient Celts.

Magnetic Qualities

Italian Scientists examining red paint are able to date frescos by studying the direction of the iron molecules in the paint. The molecules act like compass needles, aligning themselves with magnetic north during the time it takes to dry on the wet clay. Because Magnetic north changes every year and fluctuates over a range of 18 degrees, scientists are able to determine what year a fresco was painted.



Fresco, “The Flight into Egypt” by Italian artist Giotto di Bondone.

“The chameleon changes color to match the earth, the earth doesn’t change color to match the chameleon.” ~ Senegalese Proverbs