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Ochre
Color coordinates
Hex triplet	#CC7722
sRGB (r, g, b)	(204, 119, 34)
HSV (h, s, v)	(30°, 83%, 80%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)	(58, 87, 37°)
Source
B: Normalized to (byte)

Ochre or Ocher (Template:Pron-en OH-kər, from the Greek ὠχρός, yellow) is a color, usually described as golden-yellow or light yellow brown.

Pigment

As a painting pigment, it exists in at least four forms:

• Yellow ochre, Fe₂O₃ • H₂O, a hydrated iron oxide
• Red ochre, Fe₂O₃, the anhydrate of yellow ochre, which turns red when heated, as this drives off the water ligands.
• Purple ochre, identical to red ochre chemically but of a different hue caused by different light diffraction properties associated with a greater average particle size
• Brown ochre (Goethite), also partly hydrated iron oxide (rust)

For further information, see the articles on the individual ochres. They are found throughout the world in many shades. Many sources consider the best brown ochre to come from Cyprus, and the best yellow and red ochre from Roussillon, France. All have been used since prehistoric times, and are among the oldest pigments used.

The color ochre in human culture

Fishing industry

• When the mineral was found in Brixham England, it became a very important part of the developing fishing industry. This gave the old fishing boats their "Red Sails in the Sunset", but the purpose was to protect the canvas from seawater, not to be picturesque. It was boiled in great caldrons, together with tar, tallow and oak bark, the last ingredient giving the name of barking yards to the places where the hot mixture was painted on to the sails, which were then hung up to dry.

Human evolution

• The earliest potential evidence for complex human culture comes from the site of Blombos Cave in South Africa, where two pieces of ochre engraved with abstract designs have been found, often considered to be the world's first known art, along with shells pierced for use as jewelry and a complex toolkit including finely crafted bone tools. The ensemble is dated to around 75,000 years ago. It has been suggested that the presence of complex culture indicates the use of modern human language. A report published in 2009 on an additional thirteen pieces of ochre states that the results "suggest that symbolic intent and tradition were present in this region at an earlier date than previously thought." An anthropologist studying another South African cave has called for further studies to ensure that the incisions were deliberate and not the result of an attempt to remove ochre powder from the stones..

• The archaeological literature is not consistent in the use of the word 'ochre', at times using it to refer to any red deposit and the distinction between ochre and umber can also be contentious. Ochre pigments were used by the Cro-Magnon artists who painted the pre-historic cave paintings in southern Europe between 32,000 and 10,000 years ago.

See also

• Clay earth pigment
• List of colors

External links

• Pigments through the ages
  • Red Ochre
  • Yellow ochre
  • Brown ochre

References

1. Edgar, Blake. 2008 "Letter from South Africa." Archaeology 61.2, March-April 2008.
2. Henshilwood, Christopher S.; Francesco d'Erricoc, and Ian Watts abstract, "Engraved ochres from the Middle Stone Age levels at Blombos Cave, South Africa" Journal of Human Evolution May 2009
3. Bower, Bruce "Engraved pigments point to ancient symbolic tradition" ScienceNews
4. Rapp, George Robert Archaeomineralogy Springer (14 May 2002) ISBN: 978-3540425793 p.204
5. Cartage, PreHistory

• Fuller, Carl; Natural Colored Iron Oxide Pigments, pp. 281–6. In: Pigment Handbook, 2nd Edition. Lewis, P. (ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1988.
• Thomas, Anne Wall. Colors From the Earth, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1980.

• Shades of brown
• Iron oxide pigments