Characterizing microscopic ochre fragments at Middle Stone Age sites: implications for evaluating prehistoric ochre use and deposition

SAFA 2021 RESEARCH SESSION 5: THE COMMON AND THE PRECIOUS: SOCIO-ECONOMIC INFERENCES ABOUT SOUTHERN AFRICAN HUNTER-GATHERER COMMUNITIES THROUGH THE STUDY OF THEIR MINERAL RESOURCES. Use-wear analysis of modified ochre pieces recovered from MSA sites suggests that powder production, through crushing, grinding and pulverising, was an important reason for ochre acquisition amongst hunter-gatherers during this time period. Indeed, at many MSA sites, ochre in powder form – i.e. clay-, silt- and sand-sized fragments of ochre – has been encountered within the archaeological sedimentary matrix. So far little effort has been made to develop methods that are capable of documenting the occurrence, distribution, composition, alteration and depositional setting of in-situ microscopic ochre contexts. To better understand how MSA ochre powder deposits originally formed and to fully assess their behavioural significance we present here a micro-analytical framework that facilitates the identification, sampling and characterization of individual, sand-sized in-situ ochre fragments found within MSA deposits. Specifically we will presents the results of a microanalysis (micromorphology and petrography, micro-FTIR, micro-XRF, Raman, GIS) of ochre-rich sediments from Blombos Cave and Klipdrift Shelter.