I have to confess this up front: nobody calls it yellow. All the anthropologists and archaeologists call it ochre, which can be red or yellow. They spell it ochre, too, and that confuses the dictionaries. Also, humans don’t see yellow. Technically, I shouldn’t be writing this post, but I’m a rebel! I’m going to do it anyway. Because our ancient ancestors used color, and we should talk about how and why.
In today’s post on the color Yellow, we’ll talk about what yellow in particular and color in general meant to ancient cultures. We’ll see how the Greeks created an entire system that mirrored cave paintings in France. We’ll address who had access to what color and how that played a part in where and when. Humans could see rainbows, but they could not universally reproduce them.
I have just two posts (and a summary) left, and while I am starting to flag, I’m excited about this post and how close the finish line appears. So today’s questions include:
- What was significant about people using colors, including Yellow?
- When and where did people first start using Yellow, and how do we know?
- What did color use tell us about ancient people?