“[T]here is a residue of ochre around the periphery of the domestic fireplaces [at Pincevent]. The hunters used this mineral—iron oxide—in a variety of ways, including, of course, to make red pigment for painting in caves. The color red can stand symbolically for blood, fire, or, in the largest sense, for life itself. Some have proposed that the hunters spread ochre on the floors of their dwellings in order to sanctify them. At Pincevent, though, the ochre is thickest in places where the remains from working fiint are also the densest. The ochre deposit built up progressively over time as the tool working proceeded. That means that, although they may have used ochre to sanctify the ground, they also used it regularly for routine tasks such as tinting the shaft of a spear or coating their skin. It might also have been a preservative.”

—Gregory Curtis, The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World’s First Artists, 2006.