In fact, ancient humans in the Blombos Cave were making ocher paint as far back as 100,000 years ago. “Were they painted or drawn on?”They recreated ocher paint, then fashioned a wooden stick into a brush and made strokes on stone flakes comparable to the specimen. They also made an ocher crayon and drew lines. That distinction between a painting and drawing is important, according to Dr. Henshilwood, because ocher paint batches can dry. Dr. Henshilwood and his team also showed that the red lines were drawn onto a smooth surface.

Source: New York Times September 12, 2018 17:00 UTC