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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Archaeologists find 10,000-year-old crayon in Scarborough [bbc.com]

An ochre crayon thought to have been used to draw on animal skins 10,000 years ago has been found by archaeologists. The crayon, which is just 22mm long, was discovered near the site of an ancient lake which is now covered in peat near Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

An ochre pebble was found at another site on what would have been the opposite side of the lake. The area is near one of the most famous Mesolithic sites in Europe, Star Carr. [...] The ochre - a pigment made from clay and sand - pebble has a heavily striated surface that is likely to have been scraped to produce a red pigment powder.

[...] Lead author of the study Dr Andy Needham said the latest discoveries help further our understanding of Mesolithic life. [...] He added: "One of the latest objects we have found looks exactly like a crayon, the tip is faceted and has gone from a rounded end to a really sharpened end, suggesting it has been used."

Also at University of York [york.ac.uk].

The application of micro-Raman for the analysis of ochre artefacts from Mesolithic palaeo-lake Flixton [sciencedirect.com] (DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.12.002) (DX [doi.org])

Original Submission