The conference "Ancient Humanities in Color", presented by Émilie Chalmin, lecturer and Hélène Salomon, CNRS researcher at the Laboratory of Environments, Dynamics and Territories of the Mountain (EDYTEM), UFR Sciences et Montagne, will take place on Thursday, March 28, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. at the Dôme Cinéma in Albertville.
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
Whether red, black, yellow or purplish, colorants were used repeatedly by Homo erectus, Neanderthal and modern human populations (300,000 to 40,000 years ago), long before their use in cave art. Carefully selected from geological formations, they were ground to powder using a variety of stone tools. These uses have left traces that can be read by archaeologists on coloring rocks and tools, enabling them to reconstruct the history of populations. However, the uses to which these dyes were put remain uncertain, and require even the smallest clues to their activity to be taken into consideration.