The earliest evidence of blue pigment use in Europe

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 artefact 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.

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Publication Details

Journal
Antiquity
Published
2025-09-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2025.10184
Primary Topic
Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

The earliest evidence of blue pigment use in Europe

Thomas Birch, Quentin Lemasson, Thomas Birndorfer, Jesper Pedersen et al.
Antiquity
Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
article

The earliest evidence of blue pigment use in Europe

Thomas Birch, Quentin Lemasson, Thomas Birndorfer, Jesper Pedersen, Solenn Réguer, Tim Kinnaird, Izzy Wisher, Kristiina Johanson, Rasmus Andreasen, Sara Norrehed, James M. Scott, Elyse Canosa, Felix Riede, Christof Pearce, Ester Oras
article en

Abstract

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 artefact 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.

AntiquityVol. 99(408)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Swedish National Heritage Board (SE), University of St Andrews (GB), Aarhus University (DK), Synchrotron soleil (FR), Ministère de la Culture (FR), Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (FR), Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Abteilung Rom (IT), National Museum of Denmark (DK), University of Tartu (EE), University of Tübingen (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 72%
Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
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