| Title | Divers Uncover Mysteries of Earliest Inhabitants of Americas Deep Inside Yucatan Caves | |
| Date | Tuesday July 07 2020, @10:36AM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the I'd-like-to-order-an-ochre-venti dept. | ||
Divers uncover mysteries of earliest inhabitants of Americas deep inside Yucatan caves
Thousands of years ago, the first inhabitants of the Americas journeyed deep into caves in present-day Mexico to mine red ochre, a highly valued, natural clay earth pigment used as paint.
Now, according to a new study, scientists and divers have discovered the first evidence of this mining operation deep within underwater caves in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
"What is remarkable is not only the preservation of the mining activity, but also the age and duration of it," said study lead author Brandi MacDonald of the University of Missouri. "We rarely, if ever, get to observe such clear evidence of ochre pigment mining of Paleoindian age in North America, so to get to explore and interpret this is an incredible opportunity for us.
[...] While MacDonald and her colleagues are uncertain exactly how this ochre was used, evidence from other parts of North America suggest it may have been used as an antiseptic, sunscreen or vermin repellent or for ritual and symbolic purposes such as funerals or art decoration.
Scientists said it's the oldest known ochre mine in the Americas.
Journal Reference:
Brandi L. MacDonald, James C. Chatters, Eduard G. Reinhardt, et al. Paleoindian ochre mines in the submerged caves of the Yucatán Peninsula, Quintana Roo, Mexico [open], Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba1219)
From the abstract:
Here, we present uniquely preserved evidence indicating that people were exploring underground cave systems to prospect and mine red ochre, an iron oxide earth mineral pigment used widely by North America's earliest inhabitants. Red ochre is the most commonly identified inorganic paint used throughout history worldwide. Considered to be a key component of human evolutionary development and behavioral complexity, ochre minerals were collected for use in rock paintings, mortuary practices, painted objects, and personal adornment for millennia. Red ochre use is a common characteristic of North American Paleoindians and is found associated with human remains, mobiliary art, toolkit caches, ochre grinding stones, ochre-processing areas, hide tanning, or other domestic or utilitarian contexts, including a component of grease, mastic, and hafting adhesive.
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