In 2015, the late Paola Villa and collaborators described a stone flake from Sibudu Cave, 49,000 years old, encrusted with an ancient paint made from powdered red ochre and milk from an antelope.

At the time, it was the oldest trace of a paint mixture preserved in the archaeological record. (Today some painted markings on rock walls on Sulawesi and Spain are known to be older). Ochre powder and pieces of ochre worn to produce powder are widely known from much earlier dates, and probably were used to make similar paints, possibly for application to the skin. It is speculated that the milk was obtained after killing a lactating antelope. It i not known whether the use of milk had special significance or practical advantages over other possible binders for the paint.

Photo: Villa and coworkers