Palaeolithic people
archaeology
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Pigment
- Red Ochre, 99,000-64,000 BCE
- At Blombos Cave in South Africa,
- people gathered and ground hematite,
- broke bones and boiled them for their fat,
- and mixed fat and powder in large abalone shells.
- We painted everything red,
- red like life and death,
- our tools, our clothes, our bodies
- life and death, birth and blood,
- to observe our births,
- and mourn our deaths.
- Yellow Ochre, 23,000-13,000 BCE
- In the caves of Spain and France
- during the Upper Palaeolithic,
- people painted animals and themselves on the walls
- using black, burnt umber, red and yellow ochres.
- We painted horses, stags, bison, and bulls,
- by blowing colors out of tubes.
- Wild and dangerous, running though our lives
- they’re also moving through our dreams.
Cultures
- Bone, shell, wood, leather, fiber, and stone—
- religion, culture, music (drums, flutes), art,
- tools, mining, manufacture, and trade.
- Oldowan, Madrasian, Soanian, Acheulean, and Clactonian,
- Mousterian, Aterian, and Micoquien,
- Emiran, Bohunician, Ahmarian, Chätelperronian,
- Lincombian-Ranisian-Jermanowician,
- Aurignacian, Khormusan, Baradostian,
- Périgordian, Gravettian, Antelian,
- Mal’ta-Buret’, Solutrean, Halfan,
- Afontova Gora, Epigravettian, Zarzian,
- Iberomaurusian, Kebaran, Magdalenian, Trialetian,
- Hamburg, Eburran, Qadan, Sebilian, Natufian,
- Federmesser, Ahrensberg, and Swiderian.
- Let’s not be deceived by our distance from these people.
- They were clearly as intelligent and interesting as us
- and possibly more diverse.
Pigmented
- The soul is only a blend of colors—
- white for purity, peace, and death,
- red for blood, war, and valor,
- blue for sincerity and happiness,
- yellow for happiness,
- green for growth and abundance,
- purple for reverence and nature,
- and black for power.
- Because everything today has color—
- Hello Kitty, Sherwin Williams, Fruit Loops—
- one may not realize its power.
- Colors themselves move the soul
- to paint everything else in their light.
Among the First Nations of Canada and the United States, the symbolic meaning of colors varied widely. The attributions that I give are derived from usage on totem poles by Northwest Coast cultures.
See also in The book of science:
Readings in wikipedia:
Other readings: