Archaeologists Unearth Oldest Ochre Mine with Modern Tech

Digging up clues from the past with today's technology! That's what a global team of researchers did when they found the world's oldest ochre mine. This mine, located in Eswatini, Africa, is around 40, 000 years old. Ochre is a pigment used for art and decoration. By studying ochre from this mine, scientists can learn about ancient human thinking and creativity. The team, led by University of Missouri researcher Brandi MacDonald, used advanced tools like neutron activation analysis and laser technology to figure out where the ochre came from and how it was used. They found that ancient people mined, processed, and traded ochre. This tells us a lot about early technology and social networks. "We can see how people's choices of materials changed over time, " MacDonald explains. "This helps us understand how human thoughts and creativity evolved. " The University of Missouri's unique facilities, like the Electron Microscopy Core and Materials Science and Engineering Institute, played a big part in this discovery.