DID PALEOLITHIC ARTISTS HAVE THE BLUES?

Azurite mineral deposit. Internet image, public domain.

I have posted previous columns about the use of the color blue in rock art and other ancient art (click on ‘color’ in the cloud index at the bottom). Recently, one column was about the discovery of indigo on grinding stones dated 34,000 years ago. Now we have evidence of the use of a blue mineral pigment, azurite, in Europe from about 13,000 years ago.

Doctor Izzy Wisher of the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, and the Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics of Aarhus University, Denmark, wrote: “Blue pigments are absent in Palaeolithic art. This has been ascribed to a lack of naturally occurring blue pigments or low visual salience of these hues. Using a suite of archaeometric approaches, the authors identify traces of azurite on a concave stone artifact from the Final Palaeolithic site of Mühlheim-Dietesheim, Germany. This represents the earliest use of blue pigment in Europe. The scarcity of blue in Palaeolithic art, along with later prehistoric uses of azurite, may indicate that azurite was used for archaeologically invisible activities (e.g. body decoration) implying intentional selectivity over the pigments used for different Palaeolithic artistic activities.” (Wisher et al. 2025:1) The evidence was found as trace deposits in between the grains of a grinding stone, presumably used to grind the azurite as a pigment, or somehow shape it.

Blue pigment residue found at site in Central Germany. Photograph by Izzy Wisher.

Detection of these mineral traces depended upon a suite of techniques available to modern, cutting-edge laboratories. “To characterize the composition and crystalline structure of the blue residue, and to determine whether it resulted from the processing of a blue pigment, we deployed a suite of archeometric methods: micro- and x-ray florescence (μXRF/XRF); scanning electron microscopy coupled with electron dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS); particle induced x-ray emission (PIXE); Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); fibre optic reflection spectroscopy (FORS); multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ((MC-)ICP-MS); and multiband imaging.” (Wisher et al. 2025:5) Presumably this is why the paper lists a team of fifteen scientists involved in this investigation.

Azurite deposit on artifact. Internet image, public domain.

The team “confirmed the traces were from the vivid blue mineral pigment azurite, previously unseen in Europe’s Paleolithic art. Their results are published in the journal Antiquity. ‘This challenges what we thought we knew about Paleolithic pigment use,’ says lead author of the study, Dr. Izzy Wisher from Aarhus University. Until now, scholars believed Paleolithic artists predominantly used only red and black pigments – no other colors are present in the art of this period. This was thought to be due to a lack of blue minerals or their limited visual appeal.” (Phys.org 2025) I certainly have to disagree with the ‘limited visual appeal’ statement. What is more beautiful and attention grabbing than a bright blue stone? Remember the importance of turquoise throughout human history. Now, shortage of natural sources makes much more sense because azurite is not that common.

Azurite ore deposit from Serbia. Internet image, public domain.

"Azurite is a soft, deep-blue copper mineral produced by weathering of copper ore deposits. During the early 19th century, it was also known as chessylite, after the type locality at Chessy-les-Mines near Lyon, France." (Wikipedia)

The three areas of blue residue present on the sandstone layer of the stone artefact from Mühlheim-Dietesheim. Area A, due to its more accessible location on a flatter area of the sandstone, was the primary focus of archaeometric analyses. Scale bar is 50mm (figure by authors). Figure 1, page 3, Wisher et al., 2025.

I only know of two older examples of the human use of blue pigment. “’It’s nearly the oldest blue pigment in the world – the only other known example that predates our case is from Siberia, where traces of blue-green pigment were found on figurines dating to around 19-23,000 years ago,’ Dr. Izzy Wisher, lead study author and archaeologist at Aarhus University in Denmark, told IFLScience. There is also evidence from Georgia, dating to 32,000–34,000 years ago, of people potentially creating a purplish-blue pigment from crushed indigo plants (Isatis tinctoria), the same plant that would later give rise to the dyes behind blue jeans. Outside of these rare cases, however, true blue pigments are exceptionally scarce in the prehistoric world.”(Hale 2025) We do not know what this azurite was to be used for, but it was obviously possessed and used for something by these ancient peoples.

So, it would seem that the conclusion has to be that yes, they had the blues, but apparently did not use them in their pictographic art.

NOTE 1: The above reference to IFLScience refers to the website https://iflscience.com.

NOTE 2: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Hale, Tom, 2025, Dating Back 13,000 Years, One Of The Earliest Uses Of Blue Pigment Has Been Unearthed, 29 September 2025, https://www.eflscience.com. Accessed online 29 September 2025.

Phys.org, 2025, Europle’s oldest blue mineral pigment found in Germany, September 2025, https://phys.org/. Accessed online 29 Septembe 2025.

Wikipedia, Azurite, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=164155

Wisher, Izzy et al., 2025, The earliest evidence of blue pigment use in Europe, Antiquity, https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10184. Accessed online 19 September 2025.

 

CANADIAN CARVED STONE PILLAR – ANCIENT OR MODERN?

The Vancouver carved stone. Photograph from CBC News.

A supposed First Nations artifact has been discovered on a beach near Vancouver, British Columbia. This one is a conundrum, the artifact may or may not actually be indigenous but it is impressive. A carved stone face found on a rock on a beach at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has been identified as an old artifact created by First Nations people, and also claimed by a contemporary artist to be his creation. So, which is it?

"A carved sandstone pillar discovered on Dallas Road Beach last summer is an Indigenous artifact once used in rituals by the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations, says a Royal British Columbia Museum curator of archaeology." (Kloster 2021) So, it has been authenticated. This seems pretty cut and dried, right? 

The artifact was discovered on the beach in January 2021 by a resident out walking. "Last week, the Royal B.C. Museum announced it had discovered an Indigenous artifact used in rituals by the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations. The museum said the 100-kilogram oblong pillar with a carved face on its edge had been examined by an archeology curator. After consulting with local communities and looking at anthropological records, the curator came to the conclusion the artifact was likely related to ceremonies involving the feeding of the dead." (Diclson 2021) The discoverer certainly did the right thing in notifying the Royal British Columbia Museum.

Coastal Salish style petroglyphs, Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada. Photograph by Wolfgang Zintl.

This artifact was studied and pronounced authentic by Royal British Columbia Museum curator of ­archeology Grant Keddie. “It’s very likely a special stone that was used in rituals and ceremonies, he said, explaining that Coast Salish peoples had “weather specialists. They were believed to have “special powers to draw the salmon in when they were late, or you could undertake rituals [with] certain stones to change the weather to make it good for fishing, to make it worse for your enemies, He speculates the pillar once stood near the edge of a cliff above the beach where it was found until parts of the cliff came down in a landslide.” (Haldoupis 2024) While this seems to make sense, given ethnographic records of the people of the area, this is only surmise, not proof.

This is in the area of prehistoric occupation by the Coastal Salish First Nations People. Now I have a few images of rock art by Coastal Salish peoples and none of them resemble this carving in any degree so my first reaction was to doubt the authenticity of the stone carving. The handling of the eye and mouth seem quite out of character for Salish art work.

Artist's photograph claiming authorship of the carving. Photograph on right by Ray Boudreau, from the Times Colonist.

Then, to make things even more confusing, a local artist claimed he had carved the figure. "Ray Boudreau posted a photo of a similar rock carving on the Times Colonist Facebook page, saying it was his carving and he thought it had been stolen." (Dickson 2021) However, the photograph he provided does not quite match the carving in many details, but then the photograph shows a piece that looks unfinished. 

Coastal Salish stone carving - Txwelatse. Photograph from the Burke Museum, Seattle. 

If it helps cast light on this question somewhat similar carved stone figure was held at the Burke Museum in Seattle. The stone T'xwelatse, an ancestor of the Chilliwack (Ts'elxweyeqw) - one of the the Stolo tribes in the Fraser Valley - is a man who was born thousands of years ago and transformed into a four foot high granite statue as punishment for mistreating his wife. This figure has since been returned to the Stolo tribes and has been displayed at their cultural center gallery.

So, we have contradicting claims for the authenticity of the artifact. Is it an authentic Salish relic, or is it not? At this point I could not begin to tell you. You might have to figure this one out for yourselves.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Dickson, Louise, 2021, Provenance of stone pillar in question after artist says he created the rock carving on Victoria beach, 1 February 2021, Victoria Times Colonist. Accessed online 18 September 2025.

Haldoupis, Julia, 2024, Carved Stone Pillar Found on B.C. Beach Identified as an Indigenous Artifact, 29 March 2024, https://archaeologyworlds.com/. Accessed online 18 September 2025.

Kloster, Darron, 2021, Stone pillar found on Dallas Road beach likely once used in Indigenous rituals: Curator, 27 January 2021, Victoria Times Colonist. Accessed online 18 September 2025.

HAWAIIAN PETROGLYPHS RE-EXPOSED ON OAHU BEACH:

 

Wainae Beach petroglyphs, Oahu, Hawaii. Internet image, public domain.

On September 10, 2016, I wrote about a group of ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs discovered on Wainae Beach, Hawaii. They had been first noticed by tourists from Texas. Now, a new report of the petroglyphs on Wainae Beach has come out, apparently the same group that had been reported previously. As weather shifts the beach sand it appears that they are periodically exposed and then covered again.

Wainae Beach petroglyphs, Oahu, Hawaii. Internet image, public domain.

An Associated Press report, written by Jennifer Kalleher stated that “Hawaiian petroglyphs dating back at least a half-millennium are visible on Oahu for the first time in years, thanks to seasonal ocean swells that peel away sand covering a panel of more than two dozen images of mostly human-looking stick figures.The petroglyphs are easy to spot during low tide when gentle waves ebb and flow over slippery, neon-green algae growing on a stretch of sandstone. This is the first time the entire panel of petroglyphs are visible since they were first spotted nine years ago by two guests staying at a bayside U.S. Army recreation center in Waianae, about an hour’s drive from Honolulu.” (Kalleher 2025)

Wainae Beach petroglyphs, Oahu, Hawaii. Internet image, public domain.

“This reemergence is connected to patterns of seasonal weather. From May to November, Pacific storms churn the waters, scouring sand from beaches and occasionally bringing archaeological features that were obscured by sediment into view. Over time, the sand will eventually return, burying the carvings until they reappear during a shift in coastal dynamics once again. Specialists monitor the petroglyphs site, which lies within the grounds of a U.S. Army recreation area. The shoreline itself is open to the public, but complete access to the adjacent property requires military identification. This has created an ongoing controversy about how to preserve this part of Hawaii’s cultural heritage and make it more widely available.” (Radley 2025) From the reports it appears to me that nature and the U.S. Army are already doing a pretty good job of preserving the petroglyphs, and I really don’t go along with the part about “make it more widely available.”

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

Kalleher, Jennifer Sinco, 2025, Early Hawaiian petroglyphs on a beach are visible again with changing tides, 24 July 2025, AP News. Accessed online 26 July 2025.

Radley, Dario, 2025, Ancient Hawaiian petroglyphs reemerge on Oahu’s shores after years of being hidden, https://archaeologymag.com (online). Accessed online 26 July 2025.