Colour in Prehistoric Rock Paintings

8/12/2019 Colour in Prehistoric Rock Paintings

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South frican rchaeological Society

Colour in Prehistoric Rock PaintingsAuthor(s): C. van Riet LoweSource: The South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Dec., 1945), pp. 13-18Published by: South African Archaeological SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3886665.

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13One of the greatest difficulties that the archaeologistencounters in describing rock-paintings lies in theadequate description of the intensity, tint and shadeof each colour used. M. C. Burkitt has pointed outthe importance of differentiating clearly betweenshades of colour, and Professor C. van Riet Lowecarries the subject further.

Colour in Prehistoric Rock Paintings.By C. VAN RIET LOWE.Director of the Archaeological Survey, University of the Witwatersrand.

Of the many colours in the normal solar spectrum, only those between red atthe one end, and yellow toward the centre, occur in prehistoric rock paintings inSouth Africa. In other words, if the solar spectrum were divided into twenty-onemore or less equal colour compartments, we shall find only the following in ourrock paintings: RI RRO, RO, ORO, 0, OYO, YO, YYO, and Y.* In addition, wefind black and white and a great varietv of ochreous tints and shades of the threegroups of colours: red, orange and yellow.

If we follow Ostwald (1), we see that the Principal Coloursused are also Red,Oranre and Yellow. These occur amongthe first nine of his twentv-four Standardsof Hue which, with various percentages of his white and black Achromatic Stan-dards, give rise to an embarrassing variety of tints and shades of these PrincipalColours.

U~singeiTherof the above standards. the natural and the artificial, we findthat appreciably less than half of the colours used by painters in historic timeswere used by prehistoric painters in South Africa,-among the last of whom werethe Bushmen. whose paintings are so well and so widely known.

In addition to the blacks,whites. yellows, oranges and reds, we very occasionallyfind a. greyish blue (2)-an uncertain hue of uncertain origin. There can be nodoubt that the colour blue is present in some small percentage of our paintings,but its occurrenceis so rare and its origin so uncertain, that the blue effect maynot have been intentional. It does not appear to have been deliberately made andused as a blue. We may therefore. I feel, rule it out as a pigment made and usedby Stone Age man, and confine ourselves to tints and shades of the principalcolours: red. orange and yellow. i.e., to that portion of the spectrum between wavelengths of about 7600 and 5600.While colour phenomena can he expressed objectively in terms of physics,their perception, interpretation and description in archaeologicalworks have always* R = Red. 0 = Orange, and Y = Yellow.REFERENCES:(1) Ostwald, W.: " Colour Science ", Vols. I and TI, and " Colour Album", Windsor andNewton, London.(2) of. Plates 21. 27, 31, 32, 35, etc., in Bleek's "Bushman Paintings in South Africa",Methuen, 1930.

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BREUIL'S CLASSIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPAL C(COMIPAR

COLOUR. CODE UNIV ERSEE.P.N. SEIMSE,1. Brun sepia .Sepia brown 111 (MIaroon), 112, 113, 12(umber), 691, 692 (Blood-i701 (Burnt umber), 702, 72. Brun rouge .. .. Red brown . . . 01 (Purple garnet), 162, 16.3. Brun rouge orange Orange-red brown 168, 1734. Brun rouge pale Pale red-brown . 163. 164, 190, 203-205, 241-245. Brun pAle .Pale brown ... 1.33 (Deep bistre), 134, 694,6. Brun gris.Gray brown 178, 1807. Brun jaune .. Yellow brown 133, 134, 193, 203, 336, 3378. Brun jaune pAle Pale yellow brown 199, 2009. Rouge brun .. Brown red . . 121, 15610. Rouge brun clair Light brownish red 954, 25511. Rouge fort .. Deep red. .. .. 61 (French purple), 62, 127,12. Rouge vif.Bright red .. .. 76 (Erytrina or Carman thus

1.2. Rouge .Red ... 37 (Blood-red)14. Rouge pile .. Pale red .. 145, 155, 1701;5. Rouge orange .Orange red .. 181 (Scarlet-orange), 133, 181I . Rouge orange pAle .. Pale orange-red17 Rouge jaune .. .. Yellow red .182, 19418. Rouge rose au carminA Deep rose red .. .. 251. 25019. Rouge violac6 .. Violet red . . 36, 38. 10620. Rouge violace pAle Pale violet red .. 953, 25521. Orange Orange . .2.911 (Neutral orange)22. Orange rouge .. Red orange . . 197. 198, 247, 248 (Rust red'23. Jaune hrun .. Brown yellow .. 201 (Tan), 338-34024. Jaune hrun rouge Reddish brown yellow 246 .. ..25. Jaune rouge .. Red yellow . . 168 .. ..96. Jaune orange .. Orange yellow .. 214, 215 ..27. Jaune Y.. ellow . . 226-230, 241, 242, 25728. Jaune pale .. Pale yellow .. 246, 24 ..



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L COLOURS IN PREHISTORIC ROCK PAINTINGS.MEPARATIVE APPROXIMATIONS ACCORDING TO THET ERSEL DES COULEURS DICTIONARY OF COLOURSERIES NO. XXX. MAERZ ANI) PAUL.SEGUY.L3, 126 (Purple brown), 176 (Burnt 8 E 6 to 8 L 6 (Art brown +)Blood-red brown), 697 (M1ahogany),702, 708, 711 ..62, 161 .. .. .. .. .. 7 L 7 (Maroon) to 7 L 1212 A 12 to 12 D 12 (Spa-taln) to 12 L 12241-245 6.. .. .. .. .. 6C 1,6D11, 694, 695, 703 .. .. .. .. 14 A 10 to 14 I 1014 B 5 to 1.4 D 5337.. .. .. .. .. .. 12 H 1 to 12 L 11 (Tan)12 E 7 (Cinnamon) to 12 J 76 A 6 throiigh Ruby to 6 L 6

127, 136 (c. Blood red), 138, 251, 259 4 L 1, 4 L 2.n thus red), 91-93, 151 .. .. .. 3 L I to 3 L 63 L 8, 3 L 92K 7 to 2 K 9L33, 188, 194 .. .. .. .. 1 1 12 to 1 K 12, 2 J 12 (Paprica, ifbright)1 A 11 to 1 D 11, 2 A 11 to 2 D 111 A 6 to 1 H 6, 2 A 6 to 2 H 6;3 A 6 to 3 J 64 A. 5 to 4 G 55 K7to5K 99 L 8. 9 L 9, 1O L 10 (Orange peel)st red) .. .. .. .. .. D 12 to I F 1211 A 11 to 11 L 11; 11 A 12 to 11 L 125 T 12, 5 I 122 T 12 to 2 J 129 J 11 to 9 L 1110 K 3 (Lemon vellow), 10 K 4, 10 K 511 L 2. 11 L 3 (Canarv vellow), 11.L 4,11 L 5 (Lime vellow)



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16been matters of individual subjective judgment. Because colour perception is anormal function of the eye and objective colour recordingrequires special apparatusand technical training, colours are almost always described on the basis of individualsubjective interpretations. This necessarily leads to misunderstanding and con-fusion unless adequate safeguards are observed. Anyone who has attempted todescribe the colours which appear in prehistoric rock paintings will know howextremely difficult it is to convey an accurate impression of the colours one sees.Most writers have confined their descriptions to principal colours, and have addedwhat they consider appropriateadjectives, such as bright red, brick red, pillar-boxred, darkred, bloodred, and so on, to define shades and tints in the vain belief thattheir readers will get an accurate impression of the colour thus described; andalways the more sensitive writers have harbouredthe fear that the effect of suchsubjectiveobservationmay be different from that intended. Indeed, original coloursare often in themselves so elusive, and the effect they have on the eye is so dependenton such a variety of factors, that a " blood red" seen on a damp day may appearas "brick red" on a dry, or a "pillar-box red" seen in strong light, may appear" bright red" in dull, and so on. The colours in, and the nature and texture ofthe underlying and surrounding rock also play their misleading parts, as indeeddoes the health of the observer, especially fatigue of the retina. Such a varietyof factors has to be considered, and such a range of subtle differencesoccur withineven comparatively narrow limits of the spectrum, that no observercan always bequite certain of the effect on himself; nor can he be certain of the effect of hisdescription on another.

When we set out to relate colours with the names by which they are commonlyidentified in a single country or language, we find there are by no means any hardand fast rules or standards. The most the recorderwho confineshimself to popularterms can expect, is to convey an approximate impression; especially when heattempts to reproducea rock-painting on a piece of paper. He can never recapturethe irregularities in the rock nor can he quite recapture the colours in a smoothcopy. In other words, his reproduction is merely his own impression of both theform and the colour of the original. Of the two, viz., form and colour, colourcauses the greatest difficulties. Tints and shades of a single principal colour mergeimperceptiblyinto those of another: red into orange, and orange into yellow. Theresult is that one has variations of RRO, RO, ORO, OYO, YO, YYO and so on,until one is lost in an ochreous haze. It is therefore our duty to attempt to giveas accurate an impression as we can.

As an experiment carried out at my request, the Abbe Breuil drew up a listof his popular descriptions of the commoner tints and shades of red, orange andyellow seen in the prehistoric rock paintings of South Africa, and identified themas closely as he could in accordancewith the better-known dictionaries of colour;my hope was to enable us, by means of such dictionaries, to get a more objectiveand thus possibly a more accurateimpressionthan is possible if we confine ourselvesto popular terms and subjective analyses. The results are given in the accom-



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17panying table-and they are extremely interesting. For example, we see that theAbbe's " sepia brown" ranges over twelve colours according to the French colour-dictionary, and over four according to the American. The differencesbetween theextremes of these colours are not great, but they are appreciable, and thus revealthe inadequacy of available, popular colour terms and adjectives, when we find itnecessary to define colours in terms of Ostwald's regions of shades and tints. Onthe other hand, the visual determination of the Principal Colours, red, orange andyellow, as listed in these dictionaries, is more accurate. By the French standard,the Abbe has eight colours to cover his yellow, one to cover orange, and one to coverred; by the American, he has three to cover yellow, three to cover orange and twoto cover red, thus revealing almost excessively slight differences of tones and sensa-tions set in motion by these colours. The difficulty of being more limited in choiceis greater among the longer wave reds than among the shorter wave oranges andyellows; but when we weigh all the difficulties in the balance, we find that it ispossible to convey a more accurate and objective impression by referring to adictionary of colour than by using subjective methods and popular colour terms.I would therefore urge a wider and more general use of one or other of thesedictionaries, and of references to them only after repeated comparisons have beenmade betweenthe colours in the originals and those in the dictionary. The Germanmethods, as described by Ostwald, seem to be the most popular in England andthe Union, and thus possibly enjoy wider advantages than either the Americanor the French would in this country. Actually, of course, it does not much matterwhich dictionary we use, provided we give detailed references to it.

Difficulties in colour-matching will at first be experienced, due mainly to theproblem of contending with one type of coloured surface (viz., rock of constantlydiffering surfaces and textures) against another of altogether different surface andtexture (viz., smooth paper). With a little patience and practice on the part ofthe observer,however, much can be done toward ensuring a colour match that canbe more readily understoodbv those who have not had access to the original. Thisobjective method also makes it possible to check descriptions objectively.Several preliminary steps have to be taken and several cautions need to beobserved. The first essential in any attempt to match a colour in a rock paintingwith some colour in a " dictionary" is to see that the two coloured surfaces to becompared are side by side in the same light and on the same plane. These arethen covered by a piece of neutral gray paper at least four inches square with asmall rectangular opening about 1j inches by - inch cut in the centre. Half theopening is then put over the original and the other half over the matching colour.The purpose of the mask is to conceal surrounding colours and thus bring thosebeing matched into more immediate and undisturbed focus. Actually the colourof the mask should be complementaryto the colours being matched-a blue maskfor yellow, a green for red, and so on -or white and black masks may be used,but for general field work, a mask of neutral gray has been found to serve mostpurposes and it is therefore recommended for general use in the first place.



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18The second caution is to avoid artificial lighting as far as possible. It

disturbs the " warmth" of the colour. Daylight has its drawbacks,but it possessesno dominant hue and it has been found to produce the most satisfactory results,-despite its variability. It may, however, occasionally be necessary to note anddescribethe characterof the light under which the comparisonwas made. Detailedinstructions of procedure are included in all dictionaries, and an experimentershould therefore have little or no difficulty in mastering them. The great need, Ifeel, is to avoid popular terms in any scientific analysis and to use such dictionariesas I have referred to in all descriptive work. Those who have not got directaccess to a Dictionary of Colour should make copies of original colours in the fieldand submit a sample of the colour to be identified to the most convenient museumor institution that has a dictionary. All that is needed is a small coloured squareover which the matching mask may be placed in the institution to which thesample is sent.In view of the aids at our disposal, it is urged that variable and thereforeinaccurate terms, whether fashionable or popular, should be confined to populardescriptive writing. The serious worker is in sore need of better methods andshould not tolerate such couplets as brown-red and vellow-red. He certainlycannot hope to contend with the artistic licence of such fashionable colours asParis Mud, Elephant's Breath, Folly and Stifled Sigh, however picturesque orwhimsical they may be. There may be some deep psychological reason for suchpoetic feeling towards the names of colours, but it should, I contend, be confinedto the mannerisms and affectations of fashion salons and art studios, and notencouraged in scientific works.

Reviews.B. D. Malan, H. B. S. Cooke, and L. H.

Wells. Fossil man in the LebomboMountains, South Africa. The Bor-der Cave, Ingwavuma district, Zulu-land. Man. No. 3. XLV. 1945.Illust.

In 1934 Professor R. A. Dart carriedout a preliminary excavation of the cave,which revealed a superficial stratum ofBantu material, overlying a consolidatedMiddle Stone Age deposit. No furtherexcavation was carried out until 1941and1942.Unfortunately in 1940,guano huntersdug out a considerable part of the cavefloor, and in addition to animal remainsexhumed, the fragments of an adultcranium, several portions of human limbbones and a distinctive human frontalbone were brought to light.

The excavation of the following twoyears were undertaken in undisturbeddeposit. It yielded "a rich industry ofMiddle Stone Age times (Pietersburgculture), showing a continuous develop-ment of the industry over a considerableperiod of time ". After careful considera-tion, the cranium and some of the otherhuman fragments have been confidentlyallocated to the Pietersburg culture. TheIngwavuma cranium shows close morpho-logical similarities to the Springbok FIatsand the Fish Hoek crania,-other SouthAfrican skulls relegated to the MiddleStone Age. In certain respects, however,and notably in the massive frontal bone,there is an approachto the condition foundin the Florisbad skull; also a Middle StoneAge association. Continued on page 22.

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Colour in Prehistoric Rock Paintings

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