Early Worked Ochre in the Middle Pleistocene at Olorgesailie, Kenya

Summary

Excavation of the Middle Stone Age site of GOK-1 at Olorgesailie (2001-2011) yielded two pieces of iron-rich rock from a well-developed red soil below a tuff dated to 220 ka. The soil’s stratigraphic position in the G locality and the associated lithics suggest it is more comparable to the some of the earliest Middle Stone Age sites in nearby Locality B, which date to over 300 ka. The larger rock exhibits grinding striations exposing powdery red pigment. Furthermore, an incomplete perforation was bored into this stone from two directions. Chop marks in the bases of both opposing holes indicate human agency with a sharp tool. Chemical analysis was carried out at The Field Museum of Natural History using minimally destructive LA-ICPMS. The results confirmed that the stones were not grindstones with pigment residue but were themselves pigmentaceous. LA-ICPMS analysis of ochre samples from the nearest source (Mt. Olorgesailie) showed that the rocks were not derived from this locality. Further analyses of ochre sources in Kenya currently underway may identify a more distant source of the GOK-1 pigment. This find constitutes the oldest documented transport and utilization of ochre in East Africa, as well as the oldest attempted perforation.

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

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