11 Facts About Ochre

Ochre, or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand.

Ochre was the most commonly used pigment for painting walls in the ancient Mediterranean world.

Ochre clays were used medicinally in Ancient Egypt: such use is described in the Ebers Papyrus from Egypt, dating to about 1550 BC.

Ochre pigments are plentiful across Australia, especially the Western Desert, Kimberley and Arnhem Land regions, and occur in many archaeological sites.

Ochre has been used for millennia by Aboriginal Australians for body decoration, sun protection, mortuary practices, cave painting, bark painting and other artwork, and the preservation of animal skins, among other uses.

Related searches

Ochre was the predominant colouring agent used by Maori, and was used to paint their large waka taua.

Ochre prevented the drying out of the wood in canoes and the carvings of meeting houses; later missionaries estimated that it would last for 30 years.

Ochre was from Roussillon in the Vaucluse department of Provence, and he was fascinated by the cliffs of red and yellow clay in the region.

Ochre invented a process to make the pigment on a large scale.

Ochre from Vaucluse was an important French export until the mid-20th century, when major markets were lost due to the Russian Revolution and the Spanish Civil War.

Ochre began to face growing competition from newly synthetic pigment industry.