Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – A recent study led by researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark has revealed the earliest known use of blue pigment in Europe, offering valuable insights into the origins of art and creativity during prehistoric times.
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. Credit: Wisher I, Birch T, Andreasen R, et al.
At the Final Palaeolithic site of Mühlheim-Dietesheim in Germany, archaeologists discovered traces of a blue residue on a stone artifact estimated to be around 13,000 years old. Through advanced scientific analyses, they identified the pigment as azurite—a vivid blue mineral that had not previously been documented in European Palaeolithic art.
Blue pigments are notably absent from the Palaeolithic archaeological record. Both Neanderthals and Homo sapiens used mineral and organic colorants, but their palette appears to have been restricted to black and red-yellow hues, derived from materials such as charcoal, manganese dioxide, and various ochres (iron oxides). The use of these pigments is well-documented across multiple continents for a wide range of activities.
In the European Middle Palaeolithic (approximately 300,000–40,000 years ago), Neanderthals utilized ochres and manganese dioxide not only for practical applications—such as creating compound adhesives or aiding in fire-lighting—but also potentially for symbolic purposes. This may have included producing parietal art, though the issue remains debated.
For Homo sapiens, evidence indicates that pigment use began at least 100,000 years ago and has been linked to the development of ‘behavioural modernity,’ an indicator of advanced cognitive abilities.
This discovery sheds new light on artistic practices and the use of materials among early humans.
“This challenges what we thought we knew about Palaeolithic pigment use”, sais Dr. Izzy Wisher, the lead author of the study.
“The presence of azurite shows that Palaeolithic people had a deep knowledge of mineral pigments and could access a much broader colour palette than we previously thought – and they may have been selective in the way they used certain colours”, Izzy Wisher says in a press release.
Microscopic image of nano-sized specks of blue residue, directly adjacent to visible concentrations that correspond to area A in Figure 1. B shows the area in the white rectangle under greater magnification. Credit: Wisher I, Birch T, Andreasen R, et al.
Recent research has revealed that a stone once believed to be an oil lamp, due to its azurite traces, was actually used as a mixing surface or palette for preparing blue pigments. This discovery suggests the existence of artistic or cosmetic practices in the Palaeolithic era that have largely gone unnoticed until now.
These findings encourage a reassessment of how early humans used color and created art, suggesting that their materials and methods were more diverse and vibrant than previously understood. Such insights provide new perspectives on how identity, status, and beliefs may have been expressed through material culture in prehistoric times.
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The study was carried out in collaboration with Rasmus Andreasen, James Scott, and Christof Pearce from the Department of Geoscience at Aarhus University; Thomas Birch from both Aarhus University’s Department of Geoscience and the National Museum of Denmark; as well as colleagues from Germany, Sweden, and France.
The study was published in Antiquity
Written by Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com Staff Writer