Archaeologists say they have discovered the world’s oldest known evidence of intensive loess mining at least 48,000 years ago at Lion Cave in Ngwenya, in the landlocked southern African nation of Eswatini. .
Selected hand specimens of samples from sources included in the study: Ngwenya High Grade (AC), Ngwenya Low Grade (DF), Kubuta (G), Bulembu (HJ), Ruhorodum (K,L), Munyongane (M , N), Maroma (O). Scale bar – 1 cm. Image credit: McDonald’s others., doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53050-6.
Ocher is widely recognized as a red, yellow, or purple pigmented earth mineral, often confused with manganese oxide (black ocher), and its importance throughout human history has been debatable. there is no.
Records remain from ancient times, where it was extracted through intensive mining operations, transported over long distances, used in symbols and funerary expressions, and processed to enhance its properties and performance in complex paint mixtures. Masu.
It continues to hold widespread cultural significance in many descendant communities today.
However, the differences between ocher colors are not always obvious, and pigments that appear the same in color and texture often have different physicochemical properties.
“Ocher can be said to be the earliest pigment used by humans to depict the world,” said archaeologist Dr. Gregor Bader of the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment at the University of Tübingen.
“We humans and other humans have been using red, yellow, and sometimes purple earth minerals for at least 500,000 years, and probably much longer.”
In the most comprehensive study to date of ocher use in Africa, Dr Bader and his colleagues investigated how this mineral was used south of the Sahara.
Based on 173 samples from 15 Stone Age sites, the researchers reconstructed the regional network of mineral selection, extraction, transport and use of ocher.
“We were interested in the entire processing chain of loess: from the selection of minerals from different geological formations, their extraction, and the mixing of other substances such as milk, fat, blood, and vegetable resins as binders to the loess. It’s an archaeological site,” Dr. Bader said.
“How was the knowledge of ocher extraction transmitted? Was there interaction between different hunter-gatherer groups? And are there regional or temporal differences?
This study shows that there was both a regional strategy for sourcing ocher and long-distance transport of important minerals through a network of different mineral deposits.
Archaeological investigations at 15 sites suggest the existence of long-term cultural continuity in the intergenerational transmission of knowledge regarding ocher extraction and use, including geological conditions and desirable physicochemical properties of mineral pigments. I’m doing it.
These communities of practice did not develop in isolation but were part of a broader system of relations influenced and mediated by social interactions such as technical learning, seasonal migration, exchange of material culture, and symbolic expression. It was a club.
“Our data support the hypothesis that hunter-gatherers in Stone Age Eswatini were highly mobile, sometimes traveling long distances to transport ocher pigments,” Bader said. said.
“It is noteworthy that such traditions continue to this day in Eswatini. For example, it is ethnographic that plant healers travel to collect mineral earth pigments for painting and healing ceremonies. known from research.
“Ocher is also considered an important part of the wedding ceremony. On the morning of the wedding, the bride is painted in red ocher and animal fat to signify her new status within the community.”
“Our current research shows that Eswatini researchers are in a leading position in the study of Stone Age loess resources, and provides an impressive demonstration that this country holds vast wealth of this important pigment. It shows.”
“In addition to elucidating the chain of loess exchange, we also used optically stimulated luminescence dating to show that Ngwenya’s Lion Cave is the oldest concentrated loess site in the world, dating back approximately 48,000 years. We have confirmed that this is known evidence of mining.”
“Furthermore, here we see some of the earliest evidence that humans were actively reshaping the environment.”
of findings Published in a magazine nature communications.
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BL McDonald’s others. 2024. Ocher communities of practice in Stone Age Eswatini. Nat Commune 15, 9201; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53050-6
Source: www.sci.news
