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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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ochre

Red skull, representational. Source: ahlaj77 / Adobe Stock

Pre-Inca Peruvians Painted Skulls with Red Pigments

It is well known that ancient cultures in what is today Peru deformed their babies' skulls to form elongated shapes. A new study reveals that, a millennium ago, people 'finger painted' the skulls of...
Neolithic Anatolian Çatalhöyük burials, a new study has revealed, involved painting skeletons with red ochre and other dyes or paints, and this was in 7,000 BC!		Source: Jason Quinlan / Catalhoyuk Research Project

Red Ochre Colored Skeletons Revealed in Çatalhöyük Burials, New Study

In Neolithic Anatolian Çatalhöyük burials, in what is often called the world’s oldest city (modern-day Turkey), people sometimes decorated the skeletal remains and the burial chamber walls of the...
The evidence found in north China from roughly 40,000 years ago, including advanced stone tools and ochre processing knowledge, was created by ancient humans. However, archaeologists are still trying to figure out who these ancient hominins were, and the choices are Neanderthals, Denisovans or Homo sapiens.		Source: Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock

40,000-year-old Tools Used by Ancient Humans Unearthed In North China

Archaeologists in China have unearthed a hoard of intricately crafted stone blades and ochre processing activities attributed to ancient humans living less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of...
Archaeologists have discovered the oldest ochre workshop in East Asia in north China and a recent study in the Nature journal shows how the lithic tools found at the site link to Africa.		Source: Griffin University

Advanced Human Culture Dating Back 40,000 Years Found in China

A new study published in the journal Nature by an international team of archaeologists has provided fascinating new insights into hunter-gatherer lifestyles 40,000 years ago in north China, and Homo...
The Curious Red and Black Inscriptions Found at Spanish Roman Quarry

The Curious Red and Black Inscriptions Found at Spanish Roman Quarry

The Roman quarry of El Mèdol , located in modern-day Tarragona (Tarraco in ancient times) in Catalonia is literally a man-made marvel. This limestone quarry was used by the Romans to build the city...
Chumash cave paintings at Painted Cave in the mountains above Santa Barbara

The Colors of the Wind: Hidden Messages of the Chumash Cave Paintings

Take a moment, and close your eyes. Breathe deeply, and inhale the salt of the air and feel the light brush of low-hanging tree branches caressing your face. Feel the rocky ground beneath your toes,...
The discovery that a collection of shells were threaded onto 120,000-year-old strings, at a cave in Israel is an important discovery which advances our understanding of human evolution. Source: Bar-Yosef Mayer et al/Plos One/PA Wire

Evidence of 120,000-Year-Old String Discovered in Israeli Cave

A team of archaeologists excavating a cave in Israel have made the incredible discovery of a collection of shells that were once threaded onto strings and worn by humans as beads 120,000 years ago...
Photograph (top) and tracing (bottom) of an engraved human bone fragment found at Lingjing in China’s Henan Province. Source: Francesco d’Errico and Luc Doyon / Fair Use.

Oldest Human Bone Engraved and Painted By Hominid Found In China

In China a team of archaeologists has made a significant discovery after examining a human bone that may be up to 125,000 years old . They found a small bone that shows signs that it was cut and then...
Roman Painting - Villa dei Misteri, Pompeii, Italy. Miltos was used for yellow and sometimes red in many Greco-Roman paintings

Miltos, The Wonder Dust of the Ancient World

What pigment could be used for ship maintenance, art, agriculture, medicine, and cosmetics? In the Greco-Roman world, the multi-use ocher pigment called Miltos filled all these roles. The powerful...
Prehistoric rock art using ochre paint on a cave wall in Drakensberg, South Africa

Prehistoric Man in South Africa Made Milk-based Paint 49000 years ago

A paint mixture of ochre and wild bovid milk, possibly from a buffalo or eland or similar animal, was found on a chip of a stone tool dating back 49,000 years in Sibudu Cave, a rock shelter in...
Archaeologists excavate the Red Lady’s burial site in 2010

Archaeologists unravel secrets of 18,700-year-old burial of the Red Lady of el Miron

The woman whose remains were tinted with red ochre and buried with flowers about 18,700 years ago in a cave in northern Spain may have had what modern people would consider a hard life. But on the...
An ochre crayon thought to have been used to draw on animal skins 10,000 years ago.

10,000-Year-Old Crayon Found in Ancient Lake Was Used to Decorate Animal Skins

Archaeologists have reportedly discovered a prehistoric, ochre crayon believed to have been used to draw on animal skins 10,000 years ago. The crayon was discovered near the site of an ancient lake...
Paintings in the Kapova cave (Southern Urals).

A Double-humped Camel Provides Clues to Long-distance Paleolithic Travel

Researchers have discovered an unexpected painting after graffiti was removed at a cave in the Southern Urals – a double-humped camel. Now they are explaining what it means about Upper Paleolithic...
Native copper nugget from glacial drift, Ontonagon County, Michigan. An example of the raw material worked by the people of the Old Copper Complex.

A Metal of Power and Prestige: The Ancient Copper Industry of North America

There are several criteria archaeologists look for in the quest to determine the level of cultural advancement of ancient peoples. Obviously, one of these criteria is technological advancement,...
Pre-historic rock art in Kurnool, India

Pre-historic rock art in Kurnool, India

The region of Rayalaseema is comprised of four districts within the state of Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur, Chittor, Kadapa and Kurnool - all of which record a very good cultural evolution from the...
Colin Hamlett, a traditional owner of an area of the WA Weld Ranges

Wilgie Mia, the oldest continuous mining operation in the world

Wilgie Mia, known by the Wajarri Traditional Owners as Thuwarri Thaa (the place of red ochre), lies in the Weld Ranges of Australia. It is the largest and deepest underground Aboriginal ochre mine in...