The Changing Provenance of Red Ochre at Puritjarra Rock Shelter, Central Australia: Late Pleistocene to Present

In this paper we apply geochemical sourcing methods to an assemblage of ochre from archaeological excavations at the Puritjarra rock shelter in western central Australia. Our work indicates that the red ochre in Late Pleistocene contexts at this rock shelter is from Karrku, a subterranean ochre mine still worked today by Walbiri people. Archaeological finds at Puritjarra indicate that exploitation of this source of high-grade red ochre had begun by 32,000 BP and has continued without significant interruption since then. Changes since the Late Pleistocene in the type and quantity of red ochre reaching the Puritjarra shelter, from various sources including Karrku, provide means to test current models of regional prehistory in this part of arid Australia and illustrate some of the potential of this approach for regional studies.