{"title":"Ochres as earth pigments in Hellenistic and Roman polychromy: State of the art and future directions on material origins and trade","authors":"Ariadne Marketou , Alexandra Rodler","doi":"10.1016/j.jas.2025.106276","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Ochres are naturally occurring materials that are abundant in various geological environments and geographic regions and that have been used for a range of different purposes throughout history. Their wide use as pigments in ancient art is well-documented and, due to their abundancy, it is often presumed that ochres were extracted from locally available sources. However, ancient literary sources underline a preference for ochres from <em>specific</em> regions and provenance is viewed as a signifier for different properties, uses, and values. Despite the evident importance of ochre provenance for Hellenistic and Roman art, research on the topic remains scarce. This review paper aims to bridge archaeological and literary evidence with science-based methodological approaches that contribute to ochre provenance research. Firstly, an overview of ancient texts discussing terminology and the significance of ochre provenance and trade during the Hellenistic and Roman period is presented. Secondly, archaeological science-based approaches to ochre provenance research are reviewed, sketching out the contribution of interdisciplinary research to ancient ochre research, with a focus on evaluating possible raw material sources. Finally, this paper explores future directions that could contribute to the contextualisation of science-based approaches of ochre-provenance research within the framework of Classical Mediterranean archaeology, a period for which textual and historical evidence complement archaeological finds.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50254,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Archaeological Science","volume":"180 ","pages":"Article 106276"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Archaeological Science","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440325001256","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Ochres are naturally occurring materials that are abundant in various geological environments and geographic regions and that have been used for a range of different purposes throughout history. Their wide use as pigments in ancient art is well-documented and, due to their abundancy, it is often presumed that ochres were extracted from locally available sources. However, ancient literary sources underline a preference for ochres from specific regions and provenance is viewed as a signifier for different properties, uses, and values. Despite the evident importance of ochre provenance for Hellenistic and Roman art, research on the topic remains scarce. This review paper aims to bridge archaeological and literary evidence with science-based methodological approaches that contribute to ochre provenance research. Firstly, an overview of ancient texts discussing terminology and the significance of ochre provenance and trade during the Hellenistic and Roman period is presented. Secondly, archaeological science-based approaches to ochre provenance research are reviewed, sketching out the contribution of interdisciplinary research to ancient ochre research, with a focus on evaluating possible raw material sources. Finally, this paper explores future directions that could contribute to the contextualisation of science-based approaches of ochre-provenance research within the framework of Classical Mediterranean archaeology, a period for which textual and historical evidence complement archaeological finds.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Archaeological Science is aimed at archaeologists and scientists with particular interests in advancing the development and application of scientific techniques and methodologies to all areas of archaeology. This established monthly journal publishes focus articles, original research papers and major review articles, of wide archaeological significance. The journal provides an international forum for archaeologists and scientists from widely different scientific backgrounds who share a common interest in developing and applying scientific methods to inform major debates through improving the quality and reliability of scientific information derived from archaeological research.