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What Meaning had Colour in Early Societies?

John Gage

Cambridge Archaeological Journal / Volume 9 / Issue 01 / April 1999, pp 109 - 126


DOI: 10.1017/S0959774300015237, Published online: 14 October 2009

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0959774300015237

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John Gage (1999). What Meaning had Colour in Early Societies?. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 9, pp 109-126 doi:10.1017/S0959774300015237

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Cambridge Archaeological Journal 9:1 (1999), 109-26

Viewpoint

What Meaning had Colour in Early Societies?

Colour is one of the most prominent features of human experience, but has often been
ignored or overlooked in archaeological research. All practising archaeologists are aware of
the colour of the materials which they handle — be they stone artefacts, painted pots,
prehistoric monuments (frontispiece) or historical buildings. Yet all too frequently these
items are robbed of their colour when they are published as black and white photos,
abstract plans or reductionist line drawings. Equally discouraging is the fact that original
colours arefrequently missing orfaded, removed by the passage of centuries. We know, for
example, that the famous marble Cycladicfigurineswere originally brightly painted, but
few traces of colouring survive. Yet such traces are enough to alert us to the radical
transformation which colour could bring to old and faded remains.
In this Viewpoint feature we have invited a range of specialists to consider the
meaning of colour in early societies. The intention has been to focus on those societies
where evidence of colour is not so readily apparent. Egyptian art and Palaeolithic caves
have their place in this debate, but we are also interested in the selection of stones of
particular colours for tools or structures, and for the use of colour in textiles; areas in
which almost all early societies must have been engaged.
The meaning of colour may be approached at a variety of levels. In literate societies,
or those with a rich and detailed iconographic tradition, it may be possible to explore the
particular significance of different colours in myths or rituals. Such understanding is
more difficult in the case of prehistoric societies, yet even here we can gain some insight
into colour symbolism by careful consideration of context, or by cautious appeal to
common human experience. Context may suggest that red ochre in burials equates with
blood, common experience that yellow is associated with the sun, and blue with the sky or
the sea. The value accorded to particular colours can also be indicated by the workmanship
and finish which objects received, and the distances that materials travelled: polished
jadeitefrom the Alps to Scotland, or lapis lazulifromAfghanistan to Mesopotamia.
As the following articles demonstrate, all societies are'concerned about colour, and
such concern can be traced back to at least the Upper Palaeolithic, if not before. To what
extent particular colours, such as red or black, have cross-cultural significance, is an
altogether more difficult question. Colour awareness and colour sensitivity must however
be an integral part of any archaeological analysis concerned with the development and
nature of human cognition.

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Viewpoint

Did Colours Signify? Symbolism in the perceptual characteristics show, has been highly re-
Red sistant to the systematic structures implicit in lan-
guage. This may seem surprising, since Theroux's
'primary colours' — blue, yellow and red — derive
John Gage from one of the most widely influential attempts to
reduce colour to system, and the modern study of
Department of Architecture and History of Art, colour-language has been dominated by Brent Ber-
1-5 Scroope Terrace, Trumpington Street, lin and Paul Kay's Basic Color Terms: their Universal-
Cambridge, CB2 IPX ity and Evolution (1969), which proposed a universal
and developing scheme of terms, from the simplest
Red is the boldest of all colours. It stands for char- set of 'black' and 'white' to the most complex, in-
ity and martyrdom, hell, love, youth, fervour, boast- cluding eleven 'basic' terms. Yet neither the 'pri-
ing, sin and atonement. It is the most popular mary' nor the 'basic' colours have survived as unique
colour, particularly with women. It is the first col- sets (Gloye 1957-8; Wyler 1992), and although the
our of the newly-born and the last seen on the triads red-yellow-blue and black-white-red have had
deathbed. It is the colour for sulphur in alchemy, powerful symbolic resonances (Kemp 1985; De Vries
strength in the Kabbalah, and the Hebrew colour 1965), the reductive urges which they represent seem
of God. Mohammed swore oaths by the "redness of
the sky at sunset'. It symbolizes day to the Ameri- uncharacteristic of the unimaginative expressiveness
can Indian, East to the Chippewa, the direction in the ambit of symbolism.
West in Tibet, and Mars ruling Aries and Scorpio Symbolism, in its role as metaphor, depends of
in the early zodiac. It is the colour of Christmas, course on language, but colour language has never
blood, Irish setters, meat, exit signs, Saint John, been adequate to create symbolic associations. Prob-
Tabasco sauce, rubies, old theatre seats and car- ably the fullest exposition of any colour-usage in
pets, road flares, zeal, London buses, hot anvils medieval Latin, Maier and Suntrup's exemplary ar-
(red in metals is represented by iron, the metal of ticle on 'red', has chosen to extract ruber/rubeus and
war), strawberry blondes, fezes, the apocalyptic
dragon, cheap whiskey, Virginia creepers, valen- mbicundus from some thirty terms for 'red'; yet even
tines, boxing gloves, the horses of Zecharaiah, a with this limitation, their many connotations include
glowing fire, spots on the planet Jupiter, paprika, love as well as shame, the blood of Christ and the
bridal torches, a child's rubber ball, chorizo, birth- Christian martyrs as well as the fires of eternal dam-
marks, and the cardinals of the Roman Catholic nation (Maier & Suntrup 1987). And if we cannot
Church... identify meaning out of linguistic context, how can
we attribute it to colours at all in societies where no
This tangle of folklore, pop-psychology, pop-ethnol- records of languages have survived?
ogy, art, science and marketing continues for a hun-
dred freewheeling pages in Alexander Theroux's Die Palaeolithic art
Primary Colours (1994), and it seems to open up an
infinite vista of connotations. Yet all of them depend One area where the number and impressiveness of
upon the English term 'red' (later modified into 'red- the surviving monuments have attracted many at-
dish', 'dark red', 'brick-red' and 'pinkish red', and tempts to find meanings for their imagery is
later still into terms such as 'crimson', 'scarlet' and Palaeolithic cave art. The limitations of the palette —
'purple'). Certainly we learn that there are 'many effectively black, white (rare), red, yellow and brown
shades of red', and Theroux refers to some thirty of — but with a predominance of red (Bahn & Vertut
them. We also hear (but do not see) that the Maori 1997, 115) might be thought to make it relatively
and the Inuit have 'hundreds of words' for red. It easy to establish symbolic attributes for colours; but
would, on the other hand, be difficult to find words even here the complications of technique (the use of
for even a relatively simple arrangement of reds in, black, for example, as a drawing as well as a colour-
say, one of Ad Reinhardt's red paintings of 1953. ing medium), and of representation (the red-brown
hides of many animals), together with the almost
Perception and language complete lack of evidence about the functions of
these paintings, rules out the clear establishment of
I have chosen to begin with a colour word and to meaning based on context. In a few identified cases,
contrast it with colour perceptions because symbol- for example in Tasmania, human blood has been
izing is a linguistic function, yet colour, as its found mixed with red ochre in paintings dating from

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Viewpoint

around 8000 BC, and this might suggest a link be- in the Louvre (900-800 BC) Nut is indeed blue, but so
tween red and life-giving blood, which has so often is the sun-god Horakhty with his red sun shown
been articulated in later societies. But this is a suppo- identically in three positions across the sky. The
sition which does not take us very far, since the changeable colour of the sun also concerned other
motifs here are simply a circle and hand-stencils, ancient commentators (Gage 1999, 23) and is one of
which appear frequently without this pigment mix- the many instances where the unstable appearance
ture in many other places (Bahn & Vertut 1997, 34). of a natural phenomenon may lie behind the refusal
What I propose to do here is to look briefly at two of early societies to organize their colour-terminol-
very different sorts of society where artefacts and ogy according to clearly defined hues. But such a
colour language can be brought closely together: reluctance made it difficult, if not impossible, to use
Ancient Egypt and modern Aboriginal Australia. colour (that is, colour words) for specific symbolic
purposes.
Ancient Egypt
Aboriginal Australia
Recent studies of Ancient Egyptian have identified
abstract terms only for black, white, red and green Berlin & Kay's Basic Color Terms includes the vo-
(Harris 1961, app. V; Schenkel 1963; Baines 1985), cabularies of three Australian Aboriginal languages
although artefacts from the Old and New Kingdoms which, with terms for black and white (and red?), or
(c. 2600-1070 BC) show palettes of several reds, sev- black, white, red and yellow (or green), they catego-
eral blues, yellow, brown, grey and pink as well rize as Stage II or Stage III languages (Berlin & Kay
(Harris 1961,141-62; Le Fur 1990). There were, how- 1969, 58, 67, 70). But all their material here was de-
ever, terms for yellow and blue pigments, the blue rived from reports by W.H.R. Rivers made around
term showing that the imitation of the gemstone 1900. Of the score or so of Australian Aboriginal
lapis lazuli, a costly import, was a primary function languages which have been studied in detail in re-
of this colour. The famous 'Egyptian blue', although cent times, several have five or six terms, including
it was not the earliest manufactured colour (Bahn & the 'brown' and 'grey' at the top of Berlin & Kay's
Vertut 1997,115 report Palaeolithic examples), is the evolutionary scale (Osborne 1974; Douglas 1976;
earliest to have been described in ancient literature. Dixon & Blake 1979-91; Alpher 1991). In many cases
The Greek writer Theophrastus, writing in the third terms for white, red and yellow refer to the ochres
century BC, tells us that it was recorded as having used in body and other painting, and the term for
been first produced by a king, a clear indication of 'red' is sometimes also the term for 'blood'. The
its prestige (Theophrastus 1965, 78-9). But because salience of 'black', 'white' and 'red' in these lan-
abstract 'blue', together with 'violet' and 'lilac', was guages can indeed be linked to the role of these
subsumed under the term for 'green' (or, rather, be- colours and pigments in painting, and they were,
cause the same term covered all these colours), blue and are, heavily freighted with symbolism. Red ochre
in the modern sense could play no part in religious was regarded as especially sacred, and where there
symbolism; and although the pigment was used in were no good local supplies, it was imported, often
New Kingdom royal tombs to represent the sky, the over long distances (Mulvaney 1976; Edwards 1976).
sky-goddess, Nut, in a papyrus of the 21st Dynasty Black, white, yellow and red have been identified as
in the British Museum (no. 10008/3) remains the colours of the four elements: red fire, yellow
unpainted, while the earth-god Geb is in green with water, black earth, white air, fundamental to Abo-
a blue-green wig. In Christian Egypt, the Coptic term riginal creation myths (Mudrooroo 1994,141). But in
for 'blue' was itself 'sky-colour' (Till 1959,342). the now well-known Torres Straits Islander flag,
Yellow, the Egyptian term which signified the green symbolizes the land (earth) and blue the sea
mineral pigment orpiment (Harris 1961,153-4), was (water) for entirely representational reasons. Until
similarly subsumed under 'red'; and in other papyri the creation myths are more closely related to the
in the British Museum, it is clear that the sun, for vocabulary of particular languages, of which there
example, could be represented as of either colour: in were around 250 in the eighteenth century, and fewer
a Book of the Dead from the 29th Dynasty (British than half that number today, it will not be clear
Museum 9901), the rising sun is represented as red, whether there was or is any more unanimity in the
while in a funerary papyrus of the early 22nd Dy- allocation of colours to elements than there has been
nasty (British Museum 9919), the setting sun is yel- in the European tradition since Antiquity — that is,
low. On the other hand, on the Stele of Lady Taperet virtually none (Gage 1993,32-3)

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One of the earliest records of the symbolic at- The Significance of Colour in European
tributes of body-paint colours was made in New Archaeology
South Wales in the 1790s, where red was seen to
connote warlike intentions and white the opposite
(Collins 1912, 305); but in the same Sydney area in Andrew Jones1 & Richard Bradley2
the early nineteenth-century Aboriginals used a term
1
for 'blue-sky', which may have been a borrowing Department of Archaeology, University College
from European usage (Troy 1990, 81), and this may Dublin, Belfield, Dublin
2
also be true of the other terms as well. Multi- Department of Archaeology, University of Reading,
lingualism, like the analysis of artefacts, is a consid- Whiteknights, PO Box 218, Reading, RG6 6AA
eration which has played too small a role in studies
of colour terminology so far. The world we inhabit is full of colour, yet we tend to
forget that when we study the past. Although arte-
Conclusion facts and monuments may occasionally be depicted
using colour photographs, the normal way of repre-
I have argued that, since symbolizing is a linguistic senting them is by simple black and white drawings.
activity, it should take precedence over perception It is likely that past societies recognized and
in the interpretation of the colours of artefacts. But employed a range of colours. This has been an im-
language is far less discriminating than perception: portant area of study for scholars working in other
we may distinguish several million nuances of col- disciplines, including anthropologists, psychologists
our, but we give only a few hundred names to them. and arthistorians. Our aim here is to outline some of
Thus our choice of 'colours' to name is likely to be their insights and to examine the implications of this
intrinsically symbolic, and although modern mar- work for our understanding of past societies. We
keting may introduce many more terms ('Disco Pink', wish to focus on four features: colour categorization,
'Fabulous Cherrywood', 'Sparkling Brick' are among colour and symbolism, colour and materiality, and
some forty modern colour-names for nail-varnish colour and visual perception.
noted in Wyler 1992,75), they are of little interest in How can we be sure that we perceive colour in
the study of early societies. Where it is clear that a the same way as people in the past? Here we can
culture is not concerned to label the distinctions draw on the work of cognitive psychologists. Their
which it clearly perceives (as in Egyptian 'blue/ work shows that all human beings perceive the full
green'), modern scholars must respect this reluc- colour spectrum (Berlin & Kay 1969), but whilst this is
tance and seek to reconstitute the attitudes which lie true, the way in which colour is processed is cognitively
behind it. complex. Berlin and Kay postulate what they describe
as 'basic colour terms'. These include descriptive terms
for primary colours such as 'red', 'green' and 'blue';
but not colours which are encompassed within other
terms, for example 'scarlet' which is included within
the category 'red'. According to their analysis, these
terms correspond to basic colour categories. They
are a product of the way in which the mind catego-
rises the operations of the colour receptor cells within
the human eye (Kay & McDaniel 1978).
The correspondence between basic colour terms
and basic colour categories is by no means simple, as
those terms may be encompassed within a broader
cultural organization of experience. This is demon-
strated by the work of Rosch (1973) who studied the
correspondence between language terms and colour
perception amongst the Dani of Papua New Guinea.
Although the Dani do perceive the full colour spec-
trum, they employ only two terms for colours. One
group is described as dark-cool and includes black,
blue and green. The other group they call light-warm

112
Viewpoint

and includes white, red and yellow. zation schemes. It is no coincidence that these colours
While the precise number of colour terms were appear to form the basis of a signification system based
seen to be culturally specific, the order of these col- on the human body since the body is such an impor-
our terms remains the same in different cultures. tant natural symbol (Douglas 1967). This point is of
Berlin & Kay (1969) propose a hierarchical scheme interest since the colours black, white and red occur
for colour terms, which begins at the most basic consistently in archaeological contexts. For instance,
level with black and white, then red, and then yel- red figures are generally opposed to those painted in
low, blue or green. These are followed by brown, black in the Chauvet Cave dating from about 30,000 BP
then purple, pink, orange or grey. What this means (Clottes 1998), whilst the colour red features in
is that if a given language contains only two colour Mesolithic burial contexts throughout Europe and may
terms then these will define white and black. If a stand for human blood (Bradley 1998, chap. 2).
language contains three terms for colours, they will Colour is not only a means of ordering the world;
be white, black and red — and so on. it may also be representational. Again, this aspect of
This research has important implications for our colour can be studied contextually. Another example
study of colour perception in the past. Although it may from Miller (1985) illustrates the point. In India black is
be seen in the same ways, its categorization would inauspicious and black pots are used in everyday trans-
always have been culturally specific. Miller (1985) pro- actions. Red, on the other hand, is an auspicious col-
vides a good example of the way in which colour our, so red pots will be associated with ritual occasions.
categories relate to material culture. He shows how the In the same way, one of the writers is studying the
colour of pottery in India contributes to the symbolic colours of the stone tools and pottery deposited in
framework in which ceramics are employed. By exam- chambered tombs on the island of Arran in Scotland.
ining the contexts in which objects of different colours These seem to be related to the colours chosen for the
operate we can begin to grasp their wider meanings. building stone (Jones forthcoming).
Colour must have been important in categoriz- On a metaphorical level colour also provides a
ing material culture. For example, in Ireland stone means of condensing the physical properties of objects.
axes may have been classified according to their col- Coloured objects may be bright or dark, rough or
our and lithology (Cooney forthcoming). Colour was smooth. Both properties may be treated together in
also a way of structuring the deposits of quartz in characterizing different artefacts. Tacpn (1991) shows
earlier prehistoric sites on the Isle of Man (Darvill that colour has very specific properties for native Aus-
1997). A similar approach has been taken by tralians. In Arnhem Land, rock shelters were used for
Cumberpatch (1997) who considers that colour was painting animals, but the choice of colours for these
a major structuring principle in the production and images was no more significant than their brightness,
use of English medieval pottery. for it is brightness which imbues any colour with power
Miller's study also highlights another important (Morphy 1992). Among Australian Aborigines, the col-
point concerning colour and colour categorization: col- our, brightness and quality of different stones are inti-
our often functions as a way of condensing meaning. It mately connected and these properties affect the manner
is seldom socially neutral and is often employed meta- in which those rocks are categorized and the ways in
phorically. For instance, in Anglo-American culture which coloured materials within the landscape are per-
colour is a metaphor for emotional states; when angry ceived and used. Archaeologists have long recognized
we 'see red', when sad we are 'blue'. The metaphorical that there is an element of selection in the use of raw
use of colour is documented by Victor Turner (1967) materials for monument building. This is especially
who examines how it is deployed in the initiation ritu- obvious when we consider the use of coloured stones
als of the Ndembu of Zambia. He points out that white, in the construction of Neolithic and Bronze Age monu-
black and red predominate in ritual contexts. He inter- ments (Lynch 1998). Probably the most striking exam-
prets these as elements of a sign system based on the ple of this comes from Ireland, where there is a
products and states of the human body. It is owing to consistent relationship between stone colour and spa-
the close association between colour and emotion that tial patterning in Neolithic passage tombs. At Knowth
these colours are used in ritual. we find a series of circular settings of quartz in front of
This is important for several reasons: firstly, be- the monument, while at Newgrange white quartz and
cause both Anglo-American and African cultures ap- black granodiorite were built into the mound around
pear to associate colours with emotions; and, secondly, . the entrance to the tomb. The sources of both the quartz
because Berlin & Kay consider that the colours white, and the granodiorite are located a considerable dis-
black and red are components of the simplest categori- tance away (Mitchell 1992). Again there appears to be a

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relationship between the distribution of coloured stones Red, White and Black: Colour in Building
in the surrounding landscape and their incorporation Stone in Ancient Egypt
into these particular monuments.
The use of coloured stones in Irish passage
tombs also allows us to consider the relationship Kate Spence
between colour and visual perception. One notable
feature of the Irish passage tombs is that white stones Christ's College, University of Cambridge,
appear to be clustered around the entrances to these Cambridge, CB2 3BU
sites. Some of the monuments are orientated on as-
tronomical events (Sheridan 1986), meaning that these A brief survey of ancient Egyptian building stones
stones would provide an additional element of bril- reveals a very broad spectrum of colour. The inten-
liance. Colour cannot be understood simply as a tion here is to assess, firstly, how many of these
categorical, symbolic or aesthetic medium. It must colours can be considered significant, and, secondly,
also have had an effect on the visual perceptions of what symbolic meaning might underlie their use in
human beings. Colours do not simply signify dark architecture. Building stone is defined here as stone
and light, cool or warm. Rather, the way in which used in blocks or slabs as part of a larger structure;
colours are perceived and understood suggests that that is, it does not include stone used exclusively for
we think of them as a series of contrasts. Gombrich monolithic architectural elements such as naoi, sar-
(1977, 29-47) suggests that the use of different col- cophagi and obelisks. Far fewer types of stone are
ours provides an impression of contrast and depth. exploited as building material than for architectural
Again this aspect of colour may be tangible elements, statuary and stone vessels.
archaeologically. This is clear from recent excava- Most structures in Egypt were built of mud
tion of the megalithic cemetery at Balnuaran of Clava, brick. Originally, stone was almost exclusively lim-
near Inverness. Here all three of the principal monu- ited to mortuary architecture although, in later peri-
ments — two passage graves and a ring cairn — make ods, it was increasingly used in the construction of
use of coloured stone. There is an important distinction temples. Because of the effort required to extract,
between the widespread use of glacial boulders and work and transport stone of any kind, ashlar ma-
erratics which occur in profusion on the site and the sonry is found only in elite contexts; limestone was
limited distribution of red sandstone slabs which had the most common building stone until the early New
to be specially quarried. The monuments are laid out Kingdom when it was largely replaced by sandstone.
on an axis which runs from northeast to southwest, Quarrying harder stone involved the organization of
and the entrances of both the passage graves are aligned major expeditions and complex transport arrange-
on the midwinter sunset. The opposite side of these ments: granite, which was used in vast quantities in
cairns would have faced the midsummer sunrise. Old Kingdom mortuary temples, was quarried in
This distinction is reflected in the choice of building Aswan and transported around 900 kilometres down-
stone. The light of the setting sun would have illumi- stream to the Memphite region. Extensive use of
nated a series of dark red sandstone slabs around hard stone in building is therefore limited to royal
the entrance to the passage graves. By contrast, the contexts.
rising sun at midsummer would have emphasized a The quantity of speciality stone used also var-
number of pieces of quartz on the opposite side of ied over time: the most extensive use of coloured
these monuments. The passage grave at the south- stone was in royal mortuary complexes of the Old
western limit of the cemetery faces directly into the Kingdom (c. 2575-2152 BC). It was still used, but on a
sunset on the,shortest day of the year, and there is much smaller scale, in Middle Kingdom mortuary
evidence that it was originally capped by a series of complexes (c. 2040-1783 BC), and there was a brief
red boulders that had been carefully selected for the resurgence in the use of coloured stone in temple
purpose. These effects can still be experienced to- architecture in the mid-New Kingdom (c. 1473-1290
day. Balnuaran of Clava provides a good example of BC), primarily for small shrines. At other times the
how colour can be studied in modern archaeology. architectural use of these stones was largely con-
This review has examined four separate aspects fined to small elements such as doorways and sar-
of colour, but they cannot have been distinct from cophagi.
one another. By treating them together, we may come Egyptological recording of the use of coloured
a little closer to appreciating the visual and intellec- building stone leaves much to be desired. Conflict-
tual worlds of past societies. ing systems of petrological classification have often

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resulted in confusion over the identification of mate- yellow pigment in painted decoration.
rial, and there are also frequent errors. The classifi- The black stones found in Egyptian architec-
cation used here is that of Aston et ah (in press). In ture are basalt and granodiorite ('black granite'),
addition, many archaeological reports simply do not white stones are limestone, sandstone (possibly only
comment on the colour of stone. The evidence used lighter coloured examples) and travertine ('Egyp-
here is therefore far from complete and conclusions tian alabaster' or 'calcite'), while red stones are gran-
should be considered preliminary. ite and red quartzite. That the use of colour was
Egyptian terminology associates colour with primarily symbolic rather than decorative is shown
certain building stones (Harris 1961, 69-76). by the frequency of patterning in the use of colour in
Granodiorite is often described as km(t), 'black', while both building stone and related painted decoration.
quartzite is sometimes specified to come from the The following discussion of meaning will focus on
red mountain (dw dSr). Although they are clearly the use of coloured stone in Old Kingdom royal
differentiated as materials, both limestone and sand- mortuary complexes.
stone are described as inrfyd, 'white stone', possibly Black, red and white stone were all employed
better rendered 'light stone', despite apparent col- in the construction of the Fifth Dynasty pyramid
our differences between the two. Textual sources complex of Sahure (c. 2458-2446 BC) (Borchardt 1910).
therefore associate only three terms with the colour In the central columned court and surrounding cor-
of building stone: black, white and red. Great care ridor, the pavement is of black basalt, the dado and
should obviously be taken in basing an interpreta- columns are of red granite and the upper walls and
tion of colour on textual evidence, particularly^ as ceiling of limestone with painted reliefs; elsewhere
John Baines has shown that the overall number\of in the-temple both floor and dado are of basalt, di-
colour terms found in Egyptian texts is significantly vided from the limestone walls by painted red and
less than the number of clearly differentiated col- yellow lines. Basalt pavements are found in other
ours found in contemporary art (1985). Archaeologi- Old Kingdom mortuary temples (Hoffmeier 1993),
cal evidence also suggests, however, that only these often together with red granite and limestone con-
three colours were significant. struction. The same use of colour is found in painted
Choice of building stone was influenced by more decoration in the inner rooms of contemporary elite
than just colour, particularly when many structures tombs and later temples.
were extensively painted. Availability, .durability, In Egypt, black was associated with darkness
strength and workability would all have been im- and the underworld, but particularly with terrestrial
portant considerations and this can make it difficult fecundity and renewal; Egypt itself was known as
to assess the importance of colour in individual cases. Kmt, 'the black land', on account of the fertile black
The fact that colour was significant is shown most silt deposited by the Nile (Brunner-Traut 1977,123;
clearly in structures where two or three different Kozloff & Bryan 1992,142). The frequent use of black
stones are used together to create an effect which, at stone for pavements, dados and royal sarcophagi,
the very least, can be described as decorative. Only and its occasional later use for pyramid capstones
black, red and white stones are used together in this (Lehner 1997,180,186), probably reflect the potent
way, supporting the suggestion that these were the associations of the colour with fecundity and re-
only colours of building stone considered significant newal. However, the use of black for pavements and
by the Egyptians. dados in ritually charged spaces such as the inner
The use of black, white and red stone in archi- rooms of a temple or tomb is probably also associ-
tecture corresponds to Stage II in Berlin & Kay's ated with structuring a space as a microcosm: a point
colour encoding sequence (1969). This provides fur- where contact is possible between the earth (the
ther evidence for variation in colour differentiation sphere of the living), represented by the black mate-
and use between media (Baines 1985, 292), as con- rial, and the celestial zone represented by the light
temporary colour terminology stands at Stage Ilia colour of the upper walls and the ceiling which was
and the colours used in painting at Stage V. Black, painted with yellow stars on a blue ground
white and red are presumably the foci of segments (Hoffmeier 1993). The division of these two zones —
of the broad range of colours actually found in build- also the transition between them — is effected by a
ing stone (compare Manniche 1982,11). Interestingly, red band of stone or paint.
while we would describe many Egyptian sandstones , The use of red stone is particularly interesting.
as 'yellow', these were apparently classified as white In Egyptian thought, red can be associated with dan-
(Harris 1961, 71-2) despite contemporary use of ger and evil, with the desert, with blood and with

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the sun (Brunner-Traut 1977,124; Ritner 1993,147). the visible world. In Sahure's temple the sanctuary
More generally, it was considered a particularly po- is of red granite with a travertine floor and forms the
tent colour and was often associated with magical or culmination of a sequence of ritual spaces centred
ritual practices (Pinch 1994,81; Meskell 1998,227-9); around the court with black floor and red dado.
it seems to be this less specific sphere of meaning Travertine is extensively used in Khafre's com-
which is found in architecture. Red stone is usually plex, although it is more commonly used for smaller
used in bands or strips, in transitional sequences objects such as altars. Its white colour and partial
and liminal spaces, and for columns. In addition to translucency led to an association with purity
the examples of red dados and painted lines dis- (Aufrere 1991, II 695-8). Light and purity are com-
cussed above, a band of red granite magically sepa- mon symbolic associations of white in Egyptian
rates the upper parts of the pyramids of Khafre and thought and such ideas may be implicit in the gen-
Menkaure from the ground with its attendant tem- eral preference for white stone for tombs and tem-
poral associations. The same red band is found at the ples. The use of light-reflecting white limestone to
base of the casing of the obelisk pedestal of the solar case pyramids was almost certainly significant given
temple of Neuserre (Lehner 1997,151). Columns both their complex stellar and solar iconography and the
link together and separate the ground and the ceil- importance of light-emission as an attribute of celes-
ing (earth and sky), and the frequent use of red tial bodies: the names of several pyramids include
granite for monolithic piers and columns may reflect the term 'gleaming' (Edwards 1993,295).
these themes. In conclusion, the evidence suggests that the
Red granite was a popular material for temple use of certain building stones can be related to sym-
doorways, and red stone was also frequently used bolic associations of their colour. Black, white and
for false doors, which formed the focus of Egyptian red were all considered to be potent colours, but
mortuary cult and provided a symbolic point of con- each had a different symbolic emphasis — black was
tact between this world and the hereafter. Limestone associated with terrestrial fecundity and renewal,
or mudbrick doorways and false doors were also white with light and purity, and red with transfor-
sometimes painted red, reinforcing the association mation or transition. The body of evidence discussed
between the colour (rather than the material) and here is small and limited in time and social context
the architectural element. This association of red with (royal) and to a specific medium. Differences in the
transitional or liminal areas probably also lies be- meaning of colour can be established between me-
hind the frequent use of red granite to line portions dia. For example, there is no evidence in architecture
of the passageways leading to pyramid burial cham- of many of the more specific symbolic associations
bers — Khufu's burial chamber (c. 2551-2528 BC) was of red (such as with evil, danger and blood) which
entirely lined with red granite and his sarcophagus are found in texts and ritual practices. Differences
was of the same material. can probably also be found across time: red seems to
The interior of Khafre's valley temple (c. 2520- have had solar associations in New Kingdom statu-
2494 BC) is lined with red granite and paved with ary and jewellery (Kozloff & Bryan 1992, 133;
travertine slabs (Lehner 1997,124). This is the first Manniche 1982) and this may also be seen in the
stage of the entry sequence to the pyramid complex contemporary use of red granite for obelisks and
and the extensive use of red stone reinforces its tran- both red quartzite and red granite for bark shrines
sitional nature as the starting point of the trans- (Lacau & Chevrier 1977,23,401), but there is no clear
formatory sequence leading from the valley temple evidence of solar association in Old Kingdom use of
to the pyramid. The granite and the partially-trans- red building stone.
lucent travertine floor were polished, and the reflec- So much effort was involved in the exploitation
tive surfaces and glowing floor must have seemed of some of these stones that one wonders why the
unfamiliar and awe-inspiring to people used only to colour was not more frequently simply painted onto
matt surfaces on such a large scale. In addition, the a more readily available material. Several explana-
use of light-white for the floor with a dark (granite tions can be offered, and they are not mutually ex-
in shadow) ceiling is effectively an inversion of the clusive. Firstly, the difficulty in obtaining these stones
black-floor, light-ceiling colour composition. This made them status symbols: extensive use of granite
seems likely to be a deliberate contrast (both combi- was a recognizable sign of royal potency. Secondly,
nations are found in Sahure's mortuary temple), pos- stone was more durable than paint and the desire
sibly emphasizing the alien nature of the former that a building should last eternally is frequently
spaces as opposed to the theme of the microcosm of expressed in textual sources. Thirdly, some of these

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stones could also be polished — a quality not easily varied in hue from purplish blue through 'true pur-
reproduced. Finally, the colour was not superficial ple' to bluish red — all of which 'counted' as purple
(like paint) but was intrinsic to the material itself, in ancient times). The price of sea-purple was thus
thus reinforcing the potency of the colour associa- so high that only the richest could afford it. The
tion. Ultimately, however, the enormous effort re- Phoenicians developed a lucrative (if smelly) trade
quired to extract, work and transport these stones in hunting down and fishing new beds of purple-mol-
the quantities necessary for building ceased to out- luscs, and evidence of the industry occurs on the
weigh their perceived superiority to painted decora- Levantine coast already in the mid-second millen-
tion. The use of coloured stone became largely nium BC (at Ugarit, for example). Earlier still are
restricted to statuary and monolithic architectural shell middens on the island of Kouphonisi off the
elements, such as sarcophagi, naoi and obelisks, while southeast coast of Crete (Middle Bronze II), where
dados, columns and walls were increasingly deco- the sea-snails had been crushed in precisely the way
rated with paint. needed to get at the dye, not in the way used to eat
the flesh (Barber 1991,228-30; Reese 1980; Bosanquet
. Acknowledgements 1902-3,276).
Purple thus signalled great wealth and high
I would like to thank Mr BJ. Kemp and Dr C.J. social status. By the same token, sea-purple cloth
Knappett for comments on an earlier draft of this was suitable for both royalty and the gods. Homer
text, and Dr I. Shaw for allowing me to consult Aston, depicts Helen of Troy sitting at home in Sparta spin-
Harrell and Shaw's study of stone in Egypt (in press). ning sea-purple wool from a silver work-basket (Od-
yssey 4,"125-35), and we know that the peplos (woollen
garment) woven as a gift for Athena each year was
decorated with stories worked in precious purple
wool (Barber 1992).
Colour in Early Cloth and Clothing This peplos provides us with a second document-
able example of significant colour in textiles, one
with a different category of meaning. The background
E.J.W. Barber colour used for Athena's dress was saffron yellow, a
colour which Aristophanes and other authors, both
Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA 90041, USA Greek and Roman, regularly associated with women
(and Aristophanes, for a guffaw, with particularly
Colour clearly carried strong significance in ancient effeminate male politicians). Recently discovered fres-
textiles: the personal and collective effort alone that coes from Xeste 3 on Thera, currently dated to about
was needed to obtain or achieve those colours made 1625 BC, depict girls and women in their fanciest
them special. Even greater difficulty^ however, falls clothes gathering saffron for a goddess (assumed to
to our lot in trying to reconstruct that significance — be divine since a griffin attends her as she sits on an
first because few textiles have survived from early altar), in what appears to be a puberty ritual. A
times, while fewer yet have survived with colour similar association can be seen in the votive wom-
intact; and second because almost no early texts have en's dresses of faience decorated with clumps and
survived that give clear information on the subject. friezes of saffron crocus, found in the Temple Re-
Nonetheless, we can deduce a few interesting points. positories at Knossos (probably also Late Minoan I,
The best-known example of significant colour like the frescoes). Saffron, of course, produces a hand-
in cloth is surely 'royal purple'. In Rome, for in- some yellow dyestuff as well as a delicious flavour-
stance, only the emperor could dress entirely in pur- ing for foods. The source of the connection to women
ple, other types of nobles and their sons could wear becomes clear from Nanno Marinatos' information
a simple purple stripe, and lower classes none at all. that saffron is still used in the Aegean islands as a
The association with royalty must have started very medicine against female menstrual ills (Barber 1991,
early (possibly in the Levant), sincethe reason for 338; 1992; Marinatos 1984,61-72).
the connection is clear from the start. The dyeing of a So once again we see colour used to mark social
single cloth with sea-snail purple — the most desir- position •— in this case sex and maturity rather than
able (and colourfast) kind — required the capture rank and wealth. And once again the association of
and immolation of many hundreds of shellfish, each the colour with its significance comes from a sort of
of which delivered but a single drop of the dye (which causal association. That is, the acquisition of purple

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Viewpoint

required wealth, and grown women — only grown usable wool around 4000 BC, during the Secondary
women — required the medicinal effect of the plant Products Revolution, that colour in cloth and cloth-
producing the colour. ing became a viable option (Barber 1991,22-30). Not
These are the only two cases within my field — only does wool itself come in several (sortable) col-
of western Eurasia, from the beginnings of fibre craft ours on an individual sheep, but the whiter the wool,
down to about 400 BC — in which our data are suffi- the more readily it absorbs dyes. Acids in the raw
cient to give us strong interpretations. To make any wool will also help mordant many plant-dyes, in-
sense of the less clear cases, we need first to investi- creasing their colourfastness.
gate the nature of our topic. Before 4000 BC, our evidence suggests strongly
Colour in textiles is subject to several limita- that people south of truly arctic climes did not gen-
tions. Either the colour is intended to be visible to erally wear clothing. Early humans are almost al-
other people or it is not. In the latter case, it can still ways represented as naked, with the exception of a
have significance, but only to the owner or to all- few women of obvious sexual maturity wearing
seeing deities. (To this day in parts of the Balkans skimpy string skirts, a garment which for 20,000
and Near East, women wear emblems painted on years had indicated the woman's readiness for child-
their torsos — not normally seen by others — to bearing. (Many people assume that we invented
protect themselves against various evils. In ancient clothing to keep warm; but humans accustomed to
Egypt, people sometimes went to the trouble of dye- cold can tolerate remarkably low temperatures with-
ing mummy linens with dyes that were not fast to out coverings; and the earliest data for specially fash-
light (Barber 1991, 227). Hidden away in the dark ioned clothing — as opposed to a simple pelt drawn
tomb, where they in fact kept their colour, they would around the shoulders against the wind — indicate
never be seen by any living soul, but the spirits that its primary purpose was to show social posi-
would know all was well.) In the former case, the tion.) About 4000 BC, however, female figurines from
colour can carry information to others by its pres- the (Balkan) VinCa culture give us our first good
ence, its absence, or its contrastive value. For exam- evidence for colour used in textiles and clothing.
ple, if the presence of yellow indicated womanhood The women are shown wearing simple wrap-around
in ancient Greece, its absence on a male person was skirts with a checkerboard pattern. As with the string
just as important. Thus, in The Thesmophoriazousai, skirts, this exact garment continues to this day in the
when the man who sneaks into the women's reli- folk costumes of East Europe, and it too signifies the
gious rites in female disguise gets caught, Aristo- woman's readiness for childbearing (Barber 1994,
phanes has him implore the policeman to strip off 54-69).
his yellow gown before any other men glimpse him So here we have a pattern of colours with sig-
in so ignominious a colour. nificance for showing status. This first meaning-bear-
Colours with contrastive value can carry easily ing pattern was as simple as it could be (and easy to
visible patterns — a principle which has had much weave, as well): it only needed to contrast with a
greater import in textiles than perhaps in any other plain cloth to send its message. We have no evidence
medium. You can weave a cloth and then dunk it in as to which colours were used for these first square-
a dye; it comes out all one colour. If the dye disap- patterned aprons; but in the modern folk costumes,
pears when the cloth is washed (that is, the dye is the colour used for the squares is usually black, less
not fast), you just dunk it again — you could even commonly red (e.g. in Ukraine). Note that a girl is
make it a different colour next time, say, for a differ- not allowed to wear this wrap-around back-apron
ent festival. But if you dye your yarn, weave in a (East Slavic pnnjova or plakhta) until she reaches pu-
pattern, and then the dye washes out, you have berty, since it signals sexual readiness. The string
thrown away an enormous amount of work. Con- skirts, which have the same significance, are also red
trastive use of colour in weaving requires having and/or black (Barber 1994).
colourfast dyes, or else fibres that come naturally in From this point on, and especially after dyers
different colours. began to learn how to set dyes more permanently by
The earliest fibres used for spinning and weav- using mordants (chiefly second millennium BC; Bar-
ing were bast fibres like linen and hemp, all of which ber 1991; 235-9), much of the significance of colour
come in pale off-white and are extremely difficult to in cloth and clothing is embodied in the patterns for
dye permanently, since their original function in the which it is used.
plant stem requires them not to absorb liquids (Bar- Egyptian representations of what the Aegean
ber 1991, 10-20). So it was not until the arrival of traders (Keftiu) wore during their visits to the Theban

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courts of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, and Amenhotep to the pinstriped white-ground cloth (accompanied
II (roughly 1500 to 1430 BC) provide a tantalizing by dark-ground plaids) found during the same era
example. Egyptians portrayed themselves as always in Chinese Turkestan, quite possibly left there by a
wearing white: white linens could be washed and far-wandering group of Indo-Europeans, the
bleached daily. But they show Aegean visitors as Tokharians, closely related to the Celts in dialect
wearing fancily decorated loincloths (earliest em- (Barber 1999, 131^1). The parallel to more recent
bassies) or kilts (later ones), patterned almost exclu- Scottish traditions, in which the bulk of the coloured
sively in red, white and blue. What is odd is that thread went into the men's tartans while the women
Egyptian wall painters normally used six colours: used the left-overs to colour up their own predomi-
black, white, red, yellow, green and blue. The sud- nantly white cloths (Peter MacDonald pers. comm.),
den restriction to three tells us that they saw only suggests that these colour differences again signal a
three colours in these woven costumes, although we difference of gender. But we need precise informa-
also see among them two kilts clearly made of leop- tion as to the sex of each Central Asian tomb's occu-
ard skins — painted yellow with black spots, and pant before we can unravel that one.
-with paws hanging down (Barber 1991,331-8). A particularly difficult example comes from the
Why this special colour scheme? Lack of green Indo-European family of cultures. Although Georges
is understandable techonologically: green dyes (be- Dumezil's grand tripartite scheme for Indo-Euro-
fore the iron mordants of the Iron Age) were hard to pean male society has come under serious fire (as it
come by, and so far as we know people had not yet should), some of its elements are too consistent to
learned to over-dye blue cloth with yellow. But why dismiss completely. One of these is the tendency for
no yellow? Did the Aegean men already eschew the men to organize themselves into three classes:
wearing yellow because it was a woman's colour? 1) priests and secular rulers at the top, 2) warrior-
And yet back at Knossos, one of the best-preserved nobles, and 3) everyone else (farmers, merchants,
cupbearers wears a magnificently patterned yellow artisans, etc.). We could add to this a tendency for
kilt. Didn't he know any better? Or did he serve a dress in a number of Indo-European cultures to con-
goddess? We are left with more questions than an- sist of three basic colours: white, red, and dark blue
swers. The persistence of particular colours in par- or black — just the three colours we can reconstruct
ticular elements of Aegean textile patterns over nearly for the proto-Indo-European language, and the three
1500 years — e.g. blue for double heart-spirals with that languages of the world distinguish if they dis-
red diamonds and palmettes in between (Barber 1991, tinguish no more than three (Berlin & Kay 1969). (In
346-48,371-72) — assures us that the colours them- many areas, the only way to approximate black cloth
selves were significant, even if we cannot pin things was through repeated dunking in blue dye; so blue
down any further. We also see that technology — was often 'isochromous' with black, just as what we
the availability or nonavailability of dye colours and would call orange or magenta are both still
of colourfastness — played a part. It is no accident 'isochromous' with red throughout the Balkans. Com-
that the flags of modern countries that formed be- pare the variation in 'purple' above.)
fore the invention of synthetic dyes are made up of This three-colour scheme pervades Slavic folk
some subset of the colours red, white and blue — the costumes, where both men and women wear all three
only really lightfast colours then available for ban- at once. Red is seen as iconic for blood, black as
ners on the battlefield. (Did the Aegean sailors' iconic for the black earth, and white as a symbol for
clothes fade on the way to Egypt?) purity and sanctity. Such an interpretation suggests
The advent of dark green in the Iron Age (by that the three colours may once have represented the
boiling wool with a yellow plant-dye in an iron pot) postulated three classes of male society. Red as a
led to a new possibility for significant colour in cloth- colour for a warrior's clothing has a strong practical-
ing: camouflage while hunting amid the greenery. ity, of course, because it prevents friend and foe
Whether it was actually used this way is unknown; alike from seeing when one is wounded — a realiza-
but green and brown plaids (which would provide tion which could adversely discourage one's com-
particularly good cover) as well as brown and yel- panions and hearten the enemy. This is camouflage
low ones have been found in the Hallstatt salt mines of another sort.
from the period 1200-400 BC, left by the proto-Celts But it is not only the Slavs who persist with this
then living in Central Europe (Barber 1991,186-94). schema. Compare, for example, the observations of a
. Other cloth from these mines has a white ground Swiss adventurer named Henri Moser, who followed
with red and blue pinstripes, similar in its peculiarities Russian conquerors into the area between the Caspian

119
Viewpoint

and the Pamirs in the 1870s. After many weeks of specific sense, and general statements often say very
living with Turkic peoples, he entered the town of little. For instance, we know colour must have been
Hazreti-Timour, where he first encountered an Indo- important, as colour vision has long given primates
European (specifically, Iranian) group, called Sarts better chances of survival, but exactly what roles
by the Russians. In describing their clothing, he re- colour had in human evolution has not been well
marks that on important occasions the men wore a articulated. We know that early humans used vary-
turban: 'of white linen for the mullahs or priests, of ing shades of ochre and that all recent societies made
blue wool or cotton for the merchants, and red for or make wide use of colour, but rarely is it said why
the warriors' (Moser 1885, 69). Moser knew nothing this is significant. This does not mean, however, that
of Dumezil, nor, I suspect, Dumezil of Moser. Far more a search for meaning is fruitless. As with any investi-
work needs to be done to settle the case, but once again gation, we have to start at the beginning by taking
this example shows the importance of ethnographic stock of what we know, see how this may best be
materials in coming to understand the highly con- interpreted, and then try to develop a model or theory
servative world of pre-industrial cloth and clothing. of explanation. In this case I will focus mainly on
We have found, then, that individual colours in northern Australia but the argument has much
cloth and clothing often signified social status of broader applicability in that certain aspects concern
some sort — wealth, rank, sex, and/or marital cat- ancient human societies more generally.
egories — and that the origin of this meaning might If we were to list ten of the more significant
be iconic, causal (indexical), or purely arbitrary (sym- aspects of colour that we know of, from more an-
bolic). Besides practical considerations like camou- cient to more recent, we could proceed as follows:
flage, technological constraints like colourfastness 1. Human ancestors such as Homo erectus selected
and the availability of dyes and suitable fibres also from a range of suitable raw materials to make
had their effects on the picture. And although, as stone tools, often choosing colourful examples
Joseph Addison once said, 'Colours speak all lan- (e.g. Oakley 1972).
guages', deciphering those colour-languages millen- 2. Homo erectus made colourful or pure white shell
nia later can be an arduous and frustrating task. beads (Bednarik 1997); various lines of evidence
suggest Homo erectus likely engaged in a broad
range of symbolic behaviour involving colour but
archaeological evidence is scant (Duff et al. 1992).
3. All known human societies, past and present,
All Things Bright and Beautiful: the Role made/make wide use of colour both generally
and Meaning of Colour in Human and for specific purposes (Berlin & Kay 1969).
4. Red is one of the few colours that most known
Development1 human societies have special/separate words for,
besides black and white which are universally
Paul S.C. Tagon distinguished. If a fourth colour is named it will
be either 'yellow' or 'green' (Berlin & Kay 1969).
Head of the People & Place Research Centre, 5. Most known human societies are attracted to,
Australian Museum, 6 College St, Sydney, make special use of or otherwise value, objects or
NSW 2000 Australia substances that are bright and brilliant (e.g. am-
ber, gold, quartz, jade, oiled human skin or ob-
We know that colour must have had meaning for jects, Christmas decorations, etc.: see Clark 1986).
early societies, because of ancient evidence of the 6. The lowest levels of the oldest archaeological sites
use of ochre, colourful stone and 'bright' materials, in northern Australia, OSL dated to over 60,000
such as quartz and shell, but exactly what that mean- years ago, contain used fragments and 'crayons'
ing was is elusive, if not impossible to discern. This of different coloured ochres (e.g. Roberts et ah
is not only because of the reticent nature of the ar- 1990; 1993).
chaeological evidence, but also because of a general 7. The earliest surviving rock paintings were made
lack of suitable analogies for specific meaning and by Homo sapiens in different parts of the world
little in the way of universalities for general mean- over 40,000 years ago (e.g. O'Connor 1995); since
ing. So for ancient societies where written records at least 50,000 years ago there were many other
are lacking we are unable to state definitively what changes indicative of an increased interest in sym-
red, green, blue, black, yellow or purple meant in a bolic representation (Knight et al. 1995; Mellars 1991).

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8. Objects have been coloured with red pigment in stress, with stress defined as the anxiety resulting
different parts of the world since at least the from dislocation, the experiencing of something new,
Solutrean (Osborne 1916,344-5). and/or change to one's physical and/or cultural en-
9. Some of the earliest human burials, from various vironment, often requiring some sort of action and
widely-separated locations, contain ochre (e.g. see control. Humans and other creatures also engage in
Harrold 1980 for Europe; Thome 1975 for Aus- creativity (play + fun), defined as the ability to ma-
tralia); some also contain white/bright objects, nipulate and explore one's environment in innova-
including shell and quartz (Thome 1971,87). tive, novel ways; the need to experiment, refine, polish,
10. In northern Australia, since about 6000 years ago, alter and gain a form of pleasurable stimulus.
there has been an increasing concern with quartz- But humans (both sapiens and erectus) also have
ite, polychrome painting, 'rainbow' colour and or had a heightened sense of identity, place, and
things that are bright, with brightness symbolic time, responding to these in ways that are different
of ancestral power (Tac,on 1991; see also Jones & from other animals. Identity is defined as the urge or
Meehan 1978). need to express or emphasize individual and group
•What does this list tell us? First of all, it shows that features in visual, material and other forms; to stamp
colour has been used to communicate ideas, beliefs, it on the body, objects or landscapes and to trans-
perhaps even status or aspects of identity, since at form places to reflect aspects of that identity. Colour
least Homo erectus times and that colour has been is a key feature of this process but the specific mean-
used in a symbolic way to make statements since the ings of particular colours vary between individuals
dawn of modem humans. Thus the symbolic use of and cultures. There may, however, be a common
colour has long been a powerful human tool, per- association between red, blood and ideas about life
haps one taken for granted today because of its cur- and death that needs better investigation.
rent pervasiveness. Secondly, the use of coloured Place is the feeling of familiarity, belonging and
ochres for some purpose, perhaps a form of 'paint- tradition associated with a locality, place or land-
ing', was part of the cultural baggage the first people scape rich with individual and/or group experience.
to settle in the greater Australian region brought Places are not only marked in colourful ways (e.g.
with them. This may have involved the painting of rock paintings) but the natural colours of places are
rock shelters, objects and/or human bodies. Third, also used to describe them (e.g. the 'Emerald Isle',
in northern Australia the use of colour symbolism the 'Red Centre' and the 'Blue Mountains'). Time
appears to have become more elaborate and com- concerns knowledge of the past and vision for the
plex over time, as evidenced from rock art, stone future; the ability of forward and abstract planning
tool manufacture and recent ethnography (see Tac,on and a desire to record, remember, commemorate and
1991). These points are significant not only for north- honour. Often this takes material form with colour
em Australia but also more generally, so that a theory playing key roles in terms of symbolizing certain
of colour usage can start to be developed. specifics or highlighting, shaping or defining events.
Obviously, communication plays a key role, with a
Colour and human evolution particularly human desire being the urge to pass on
knowledge of identity, past/present/future presence,
The general conclusions we can draw from the above place, experience and individual/group creativity in
concern more than just colour, as they are related to temporary and semi-permanent ways, such as through
the whole notion of using material culture in a sym- body art, performance, oral history, rock art, mate-
bolic manner, the dawn of depiction and aspects of rial culture and, more recently, writing and multi-
individual and/or group identity. They also concern media experiences. Colour features in all forms of
the effects of environmental and cultural change for communication; colourful language and colour sym-
humans, memory, the notion of time and the desire bolism are not only pervasive but also are essential
to record, express and come to grips with change. I for communicating the layered nature of human expe-
believe this process began with Homo erectus but that rience. What some people refer to as 'art' often results.
there were a number of profound changes or 'quan- Ellen Dissanayake (1995a,b) has argued that
tum leaps' along the path to twentieth-century Homo 'art', and the practice of expressing ourselves in an
sapiens. In order to better understand the process, 'artful' manner, can be better defined as the process
however, we should review a few of the behavioural of 'making special':
traits we do or do not share with other species. Making special refers to the fact that humans,
We can start by noting that all creatures react to unlike other animals, may intentionally shape,

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embellish, and otherwise fashion or regard aspects significantly defines, the breadth of past and present
of their world to make them more than ordinary. It cultural diversity. The use of colour is an integral
is this behavioral tendency, rather than 'art', that I part of this process. The need, the urge, perhaps the
propose as a candidate for being recognized as an compulsion to make our mark, express our existence
adaptation, although I continue to use the word in semi-permanent material form, often in a visually
'art' as a synonym because of its common currency
(1995a, 108). dramatic, colourful way, and to transform some as-
pect of the natural world into a cultural artefact,
Dissanayake outlines various adaptive reasons why space or place, reflective of who and what we be-
ancient humans began deliberately to make some- lieve we are, is not only what makes us human but
thing special, emphasizing that 'it provided indi- also has allowed us to achieve incredible things, make
vidual and group focus to possible or real sources of sense of the world, record our history and express
material or social uncertainty and, at the same time, who we are today. One adaptation is that it assists us
allayed anxiety and reinforced group cohesiveness' with getting on with the present, so that the future
(1995a, 110). She notes the adaptive advantage of may be better embraced and planned for.
acknowledging potential sources of uncertainty, the Archaeological evidence suggests that the proc-
ways in which 'shaped, controlled, nonordinary' be- ess began with Homo erectus, perhaps resulting from
haviour helps combat anxiety; that the periodic en- the anxiety of new environments encountered while
gagement of special behaviour creates artificial moving out of Africa. Special tools such as refined
anxiety, reminds of previous situations and allows hand axes, shell beads (Bednarik 1997) and the mark-
for the rehearsing of solutions for future stressful ing of bone with lines or patterns (Marshack 1972)
situations. She also notes that 'by reinforcing indi- are all that remains of this behaviour, with the sur-
viduals' beliefs in group efficacy and group verities, face patterning on objects being a later and perhaps
the special behavior in ceremonies contributes to more abstract development (but see also Duff et al.
group one-heartedness and cooperation' (1995a, 110). 1992). Between 50,000-45,000 years ago the first ma-
Dissanayake does not mention the role of colour, but jor cultural revolution occurred in the history of hu-
I believe that colour played an integral part of this mankind with the production of an extraordinary
process from the very beginning. array of new 'special' objects (Bar-Yosef 1998). One
Keeping the above in mind leads to the following result was the emergence of figurative motifs by at
hypothesis that I propose explains the development, least 40,000 years ago (but perhaps from the begin-
change and importance of 'making special' behaviour ning) in different, widely separated parts of the
since Homo erechis began to colonize the globe. world, from Europe to Australia (Chase & Dibble
When change in the known human world in- 1987; Davidson & Noble 1989; Knight et al. 1995;
creases, as a result of migration to new lands, and/ Lindly & Clark 1990; Mellars 1989, 1991; O'Connor
or contact with other human societies, and/or fluc- 1995; Pfeiffer 1982; Taqon 1994). These motifs add
tuation in climate or physical environment, so does another symbolic and colourful dimension that at
the desire to come to terms with, express and record rock art sites, and presumably in other contexts, could
change. Not only is there a need to make sense of the be used to record many aspects of history, identity
'new' in terms of the self, the group and the commu- and the importance of place (Tac^on 1994). Another
nity, but there is also a movement towards forging a key period is associated with events that occurred at
revitalised identity, often with evident roots in the the end of the Pleistocene — rising sea levels causing
'old'. This is given substance and a fleeting sense of loss of land, migration, climatic change, culture con-
permanence by expressing experience materially. tact and world-wide disruption to long standing ways
Florescences in material culture and 'art' production of life (see Allen & O'Connell 1995; Bar-Yosef 1998
occur and the nature of material culture and 'art' for examples). Global responses included many new
changes. When more than one factor operates at the forms of 'making special', often with an emphasis on
same time the effects are compounded. This is both a colour (e.g. Tac,on et al. 1996), the rise of monoliths to
necessary and an adaptive response. Over time it more permanently mark places and landscapes, and
has given both individuals and groups some sort of an explosion of new forms of personal and group
competitive survival advantage. expression. From then on there were many flore-
Thus the desire to create and recreate in re- scences resulting from physical and cultural change,
sponse to and as a reflection of changing circum- culture contact and combinations of the two. For
stances is one of the key drives that shapes us as a instance, among the prehistoric Dorset of the Cana-
species, makes us human and contributes to; if not dian Arctic, artistic output and refinement increased

122
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dramatically during a period of climatic change com- man body parts, plants (yams, water lilies) or even
bined with an invasion of Thule people from the the horns of the introduced water buffalo. In ancient
west (Tac,on 1983). In Europe during the Middle Ages, rock paintings, flying foxes (fruit bats) were often
likewise, an explosion of new or special objects coin- shown perched on trailers coming from Rainbow
cided with a period of great stress (Mallam 1982; Serpent necks or hovering nearby. Cross-hatching
Tuchman 1978). A profound period of change in was used to create a 'colourful' effect from the incep-
'making special' behaviour has occurred in the past tion of Rainbow Serpent depictions (Tac,on et al. 1996,
500 years as indigenous peoples across the globe 120). The oldest depictions of the creature, from rock
have come into contact or conflict with the peoples art sites many thousands of years old, also contain
of Europe and Asia (e.g. McGarry 1997). I suggest elements of sea creatures, such as the pipefish, a
this is the third major cultural revolution in human relative of the seahorse.
history — it continues today at an ever quickening By combining together elements of key plants
pace, with colour used in countless new ways (Tac.on and animals, Aboriginal people express the related-
1996). But the ultimate expression of colour concerns ness of all creatures, humans included. The Rainbow
•ideas about rainbows, increasingly used to heal, unite Serpent is not only the creator of all living things,
and express relationships between cultures, between but the 'rainbowness' is what powers us all. Bright
humans and other creatures, or between humans rainbow colour is associated with life, while its ab-
and the larger universe. Rainbow colour can also sence marks death. 'Rainbow Serpent' is both a sym-
symbolize a more peaceful, less chaotic and long- bol of what Westerners call 'Nature' and of life itself.
hoped-for future for many people of contemporary But brightness and colour more generally are
Westernized nations, as can be seen with a search of associated with ancestral power in northern Aus-
the Internet, in 'New Age' belief systems or with tralia (Morphy 1991; Taylor 1987; 1990; Tacon 1989)
organisations such as 'Greenpeace' (this last also and it is this power that is tapped into at sacred sites
making use of the colour green as a symbol of hu- and in ceremony. It is also harnessed at quartzite
mans somehow becoming closer to Nature). quarries, where the brightest, most colourful mate-
rial has long been considered the most potent, even
Northern Australia and colour dangerous Qones 1990; Jones & White 1988; Tacon
1991).
Rainbow colour has long been significant in north- As noted above, this concept and use of colour
ern Australia; we know this not only from study of in Australia has been ongoing for at least 6000 years.
oral history and rock art but also from stone tools. But things bright and colourful have long been spe-
The adoption of quartzite to make unifacial and cial, powerful and associated with status for human-
bifacial stone spear-points about 6000 years ago, for kind, as an exploration of the use of precious metals,
instance, corresponds with the development of poly- quartz, jade, precious stones and other substances
chrome paintings at sandstone and quartzite sites, reveals (Clark 1986). Furthermore, it is argued here
along with an increasing interest in the intrinsic prop- that the search for bright and colourful things, along
erties of certain substances, objects, creatures and with the expression of identity, history and experi-
beings that shimmer, are 'bright', or exhibit ence in colour-charged ways, shaped us as a species
irridescence (Tacon 1991). The Rainbow Serpent is much more than we realize!
the most powerful embodiment of this quality of
brightness and colour, with the oldest depictions Note
dating to the same period (Tacon et ah 1996).
The Rainbow Serpent belief system has its ori- 1. A version of this paper was presented at the Univer-
gins in a time of great climatic, landscape and social sity of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa on
change. It is a symbol of change and often has a 22 September 1998.
changing form. Aboriginal people emphasize this by
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