Life histories of ochre and related pigments in the Ancestral Pueblo Southwest

Summary

What defines an ochre: its chemical composition, its color, or both? The Ancestral Pueblo people of the US Southwest used a range of red and yellow pigments, some of which fit strict scientific definitions of ochre and some that do not. Ancestral Pueblo people also created a variety of paints by mixing these pigments with clays and other materials. In this paper, I consider the use of mineral pigments and paints through time and space, drawing on material from Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, ancestral Hopi and Zuni sites, and a variety of other locations. I argue that that ochres recovered from archaeological sites are most productively treated as artifacts that document stages of use, from the acquisition of raw materials to the production and application of paints. As such, these materials preserve traces of the life histories of pigments, from modification and use wear to evidence of storage and curation over time. These examples remind us that documenting the color and composition of ochres is not always sufficient; rather, the source, history, and materiality of these pigments was often crucial to their significance, efficacy, and power.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Towards a Global Understanding of Ochre Use: Methods, Definitions, and Applications

Keywords

Spatial Coverage