Thursday, July 27, 2017

65K Year Old Ochre Paint Found in Australia

Photo by Dominic O Brien/ Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation, Source
Archaeologists in northern Australia have found evidence for paint-making supplies dating back as much as 65 thousand years. This is some of the oldest evidence for human use of reflective paint, and it suggests that art-making was as central to human life as seed-grinding and hatchet-making.
"We found evidence for the mixing of ochre with reflective powders made from ground mica to make a vibrant paint. Currently the oldest known rock art in the world is dated to 40,000 years ago in Sulawesi (a possible stepping stone to Australia). But the abundant ground ochre and use of mica indicates that artistic expression took place in the region much earlier."
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5 comments:

  1. RichJuly 27, 2017 at 4:51 PM

    40'000 years,
    65'000 years old:
    WOW!

    Happy Birthday ART!

    ReplyDelete
  2. PainterlyJuly 27, 2017 at 5:30 PM

    Yet another confirmation of what this Ted talk by Spencer Wells was saying. Very cool! https://www.ted.com/talks/spencer_wells_is_building_a_family_tree_for_all_humanity?autoplay=true&utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Salty Pumpkin StudioJuly 27, 2017 at 5:45 PM

    Neat!

    ReplyDelete
  4. LucaJuly 27, 2017 at 10:49 PM

    I've always found fascinating the fact that we expressed the need for art before t the one for writing (and actually oldest alphabets in Mesopotamia were based on stylized drawings, even before the Egyptians). Somehow, for humanity art is more natural than writing. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. AndraJuly 29, 2017 at 5:48 PM

    Amazing! And going on from Luca's comment above, isn't it strange that humans have found art so essential for so long, and yet now seem to be turning away from art?

    ReplyDelete

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