Abstract

Archaeological and natural science studies of Paleolithic paint pigments (ocher) date back more than 100 years. However, until recently, the vast majority of studies were focused on the study of individual samples, not the whole corpus of this category of materials — mineral paint raw materials (in the broad sense of the term). The description of the theoretical approach and the available results obtained in the course of testing the method of the fixation of field data and laboratory processing of ocher samples, which come in diff erent shapes, sizes and differ in consistency, clearly demonstrate that it is fundamentally important to conduct an archaeological study of colorful pigments as a mass material prior to the natural science stage of the study. In the opposite case even goal-setting for subsequent interdisciplinary research will be virtually impossible, and its results will be extremely limited. A multifactorial study of paint materials can demonstrate a great variety of sample characteristics, both among diff erent layers of archaeological material and artifacts from the same site, and among diff erent sites. When approaching pigments as a mass material, statistical processing of the findings is necessary to form meaningful conclusions about the use of pigments on sites. The afore-said methodological approach reveals systemic differences, which opens up opportunities for comparison based on the methods of mathematical statistics. To obtain relevant data, such an approach requires the accumulation of a statistically signifi cant number of pigment samples, suitable from the point of view of field algorithms. Consequently, it is only the study of a maximum available array of specimens (including a maximum of small grains) of ocher from diff erent artifacts of the cultural layer, individual layers and diff erent sites that makes it possible to obtain information about the cultural similarities and diff erences in this part of the life strategies of Upper Paleolithic groups, including the identifi cation of the main stages of production chain. The proposed approach to the study of ocher as a mass material, if complying with the methodology of field work, is relevant for all types of archaeological sites of the Stone Age.