If you’re here, most probably you’ve seen prehistoric stone arts or cave paintings on TV, internet or lucky enough to visit prehistoric sites. The hands behind those paintings and their beauty tell a lot and sometime a question pop up, what paint did stone artists use?
Well, here is what we know.
The first colors were red, black and white. Red came from a kind of earth called ochre, that was also used for yellow and brown. Black was made of burnt twigs, and white color was obtained from clay or chalky stones. The colors were mixed with either water or animal fat to make paint.
Watch this beautiful video on what paint did stone artists use and how to make these.
Paint was applied on the cave walls with fingers, or by fixing animal fur to sticks to make a kind of brush. Early man even learnt to spray paint by blowing paint through a hollow bone.
Explore cave Paintings in this 360° Animated Cave – Iseult Gillespie
Do you know? The first people to write their own history were the Chinese. We know the name of one early Chinese historian, Sima Qian, who wrote a history of China in about 100 BC. Early historians felt it was important to write down the stories and legends of the past, and show hoe their state had come into existence. Sometimes people who made history also wrote about it. Julius Caesar, the Roman general, wrote his own book about his campaigns in Gaul.
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