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Chapter 11 <strong>The</strong> U<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> Ochre in Stone Age Burials <strong>of</strong> the East Baltic Ilga Zagorska ABSTRACT One <strong>of</strong> the most characteristic features <strong>of</strong> Stone Age burials in the East Baltic is the u<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> ochre in the graves. <strong>The</strong> ochre was not in its natural state: it was a specially prepared product. <strong>The</strong> long duration <strong>of</strong> u<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> Zvejnieki burial ground, northern Latvia, spanning <strong>se</strong>veral millennia, provides an opportunity to ob<strong>se</strong>rve changes in burial practices, including the u<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> ochre. <strong>The</strong> symbolic significance <strong>of</strong> the u<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> ochre is stres<strong>se</strong>d. Settlement sites in the East Baltic have also produced evidence <strong>of</strong> ancient rituals involving ochre. Ochre, or coloured earth, was one <strong>of</strong> the first pigments that humans came to know. <strong>The</strong> name ‘ochre’ comes from a Greek term meaning ‘pale yellowish’. In its natural state, ochre is actually yellowish or orange, even yellow-brown in colour. When it is burned, the ochre is dehydrated and obtains a reddish colour (Enzyklopädisches Handbuch 1969:948; <strong>The</strong> Conci<strong>se</strong> Oxford dictionary <strong>of</strong> Archaeology 2002: 295). Traces <strong>of</strong> the pre<strong>se</strong>nce <strong>of</strong> ochre at living sites are recorded very far back in the Palaeolithic (Barham 1998:703–710). Later, in the Middle Palaeolithic, at Blombos Cave in South Africa, bars <strong>of</strong> ochre occur, engraved with marks. Red ochre has also been found in connection with human burials in caves in Israel, dated to 100 000–90 000 BP. In one <strong>of</strong> the<strong>se</strong> caves, pieces <strong>of</strong> ochre were found in the same layer as burials and red-stained stone tools, while in another cave red-coloured human bone was found (Hovers et al 2003:491–522). In Europe, ochre was widely u<strong>se</strong>d in cave art, occurring in this context in the Palaeolithic from the Atlantic <strong>se</strong>aboard in the west right up to the Ural Mountains in the east. Already in the Middle Palaeolithic, and up to the very end <strong>of</strong> the Stone Age and even later, ochre was also u<strong>se</strong>d at burial sites, constituting a component <strong>of</strong> the burial ritual. In the youngest period <strong>of</strong> the Stone Age – the Neolithic – it was also u<strong>se</strong>d to paint pottery. Re<strong>se</strong>archers emphasi<strong>se</strong> the deeply symbolic and diver<strong>se</strong> meanings <strong>of</strong> the colour red, mainly expres<strong>se</strong>d in the burial context. <strong>The</strong> colour red is reminiscent <strong>of</strong> natural substances sharing the same colour, such as blood. <strong>The</strong> pre<strong>se</strong>nce <strong>of</strong> the colour red in burials is regarded as being connected with the concept <strong>of</strong> death and with the pre<strong>se</strong>rvation <strong>of</strong> the energy <strong>of</strong> life, providing magical force for the route to the world beyond. In a wider <strong>se</strong>n<strong>se</strong>, the u<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> ochre has been connected with the human spiritual world and the broadening <strong>of</strong> knowledge, and in the burial context it has been related to the beginnings <strong>of</strong> symbolic thinking (Bower 2003:277; Vianello:2004). However, re<strong>se</strong>archers have also emphasi<strong>se</strong>d that ochre has not been u<strong>se</strong>d in the same ways across space and time, and its pre<strong>se</strong>nce or ab<strong>se</strong>nce is not always comprehensible or interpretable (Hovers et al 2003). Stone Age sites in the East Baltic also pre<strong>se</strong>rve traces <strong>of</strong> the u<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> ochre (Fig. 1). It occurs in both Mesolithic and Neolithic graves in Lithuania, Latvia and, in some measure, also in Estonia. <strong>The</strong><strong>se</strong> sites include Spiginas and Duonkalnis, on islands in Lake Birulis, western Lithuania, the Zvejnieki burial ground in northern Latvia, the Neolithic cemetery <strong>of</strong> Kreii at Lake Ludza in southeastern Latvia, and in particular the burials at the Valma <strong>se</strong>ttlement site in central Estonia. Traces <strong>of</strong> the u<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> ochre have also been identified at Mesolithic and Neolithic residential sites, in special hearths or so-called ‘ritual pits’ at the Spiginas and Duonkalnis sites on the islands in Lake Birulis, and at the coastal site <strong>of</strong> ipka in Latvia. This provides some opportunity for tracing the u<strong>se</strong> <strong>of</strong> coloured earth at Stone Age sites in the East Baltic. Ochre in Nature in Latvia Ochre is a natural mineral pigment, containing iron oxides and hydroxides (Fe 2 O 3 ). In nature, it may have a minor admixture <strong>of</strong> clay, sand, peat or freshwater lime. Ochre generally varies in colour from light yellowish brown to dark brown. It is deposited where iron-rich underground waters emerge at the surface: at riverbanks, wet meadows and peatlands (so-called bog or lake ore). <strong>The</strong> naturally occurring den<strong>se</strong> or loo<strong>se</strong> limonites generally have small amounts <strong>of</strong> other minerals – calcites and silicates (Upte 1987:118). Natural ochre deposits <strong>of</strong> various sizes occur throughout the territory <strong>of</strong> Latvia (Kurs, Stinkule 1997:161–163). Natural deposits <strong>of</strong> ochre also occur along the shore <strong>of</strong> Lake Burtnieks in northern Latvia (Fig. 2). Ochre sources have never been systematically surveyed by geologists, but information about ochre deposits has been provided by people familiar with the region, and they have sometimes been 115
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The Materiality of Death Bodies, bu
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