Symbolism and Communication Color wasn’t just for decoration. Early humans used it to convey messages or meanings. For ...

Both ancient and modern peoples use ochre to decorate themselves and their environments ... In addition to being highly visible over long distances by our species, red is also the color of blood, ...

As a bright red pigment, it's possible that ancient people saw ocher as a symbol of life, in part because it is the color of blood, especially deep-red menstrual blood. "Some societies quite ...

“If you look at it, it’s like blood, a really vivid red,” he says, “and I had to wonder, ‘What’s that color?’” Countless prehistoric artifacts are colored red with ochre, a mineral ...

Ochre might be one of the most important ... endowing it with a range of colors from deep yellow and vibrant orange to blood red and rusty brown. The pigment has been used by humans for hundreds ...

Red ochre is a mineral rich in iron oxides used as a red pigment by many ancient cultures. Its color has been likened symbolically to the color of blood, and it was used in rituals for hundreds of ...

However, as Schaffer writes, expensive ingredients like mercury-laden vermillion were “potentially deadly poison; those poor persons who had to rely on red wine sediment for their lip color ...