Minerals paints
Several naturally occurring minerals are used to make the basic colours common in rock paintings:
- Haematite
An iron-rich rock used to make red pigment; - Limonite and goethite
Used to make yellow/orange pigment; - Ochre
An iron-stained clay that is used to make red, orange and yellow and can be made darker by baking it in a fire before grinding; - Kaolin (pipeclay) and huntite
Used to make white pigment; - Manganese oxide and charcoal
Used to make black colour, although charcoal is not a mineral and does not last long.
Of all the pigments, haematite lasts longest. Over time it penetrates and bonds with the rock surface. As a result, the majority of old paintings visible today are completely red. The other white and yellow pigments commonly used in X-ray paintings form a layer on the surface of the rock; they are very vulnerable to damage by wind, water, animals and humans, so many recent paintings are deteriorating rapidly.
Pigments are crushed on a stone palette and mixed with water to form a paste. Paint is applied using brushes made from human hair, chewed sticks, reeds and feathers. Wet pigments are also blown from the mouth around objects to create stencils, the hand stencil being the most common; examples of hand stencils can be seen at Ubirr and Nanguluwur
See also
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