The shells were found at Blombos Cave near Cape Town with other tools, which suggested the users were scraping off ochre flakes and mixing them with other compounds to form a liquid paint. Stone Age artists possibly rubbed pieces of ochre on quartzite slabs to make a fine red powder. Any chips of ochre were probably crushed with quartz hammers and mixed with hot crushed animal bone, charcoal, stone chips and some liquid.
According to the study, led by Wits University's Christopher Henshilwood, the concoction was then transferred to the shells and "gently stirred." "A bone was probably used to stir the mixture and to transfer some of the mixture out of the shell," said the study, suggesting further that humans of the era understood some basic chemistry and were able to plan ahead to store the paint for future use, whether ceremonial, decorative or protective.
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