Rose Cottage Cave is in the South African highlands near the border with Lesotho. The archaeological work there began in the 1940s, and was resumed again in the 1960s and in the 1990s-early 2000s. People used this cave across several Middle and Late Stone Age periods from 90,000 years ago up through the last 10,000 years.

The earlier period in the cave presents an exceptional record of ochre use and processing, with examples of ground ochre blocks, ochre pieces rubbed on skin or hides, and ochre pieces that were incised or scribed with lines. The production of bright red ochre powder as a pigment was important at this site across traditions and time periods.

Photo: Tammy Hotchkiss and Lyn Wadley (2017)