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When and Where Did Mining Start in the World?
The oldest known mine in the archaeological record is the "Lion Cave" in Swaziland. At this site, which by radiocarbon dating is 43,000 years old, paleolithic humans mined for the iron-containing mineral hematite, which they ground to produce the red pigment ochre.
Why was pigment so important to people 70-80,000 and years ago that they would begin the massive mining operation? Why would they heat it to alter its color as Dickson suggests? If archaic Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Homo erectus were simply intelligent mammals lacking a religion (as Hugh Ross suggests [Ross, 1991, p. 159-160; 1995, p. 2]) then why all the interest in carrying around useless ochre? There can only be one reason. Since ochre (mineral: specularite, Fe2O3) can not be eaten nor used for any utilitarian purpose in a primitive society, art and ritual are the only remaining possibilities. The active mining of ochre for the past 80,000 years is highly indicative of a religious or spiritual sense for that entire time. The occurrence of ochre in Homo erectus sites as far back as 1.5 million years ago, would also argue for ritual among them. This red ochre mine is highly indicative of the ritual and spiritual lives of those who lived between 50 and 100 thousand years ago.
But this may not be the earliest evidence of a desire for pigment. The earliest evidence of a red pigment, a weathered basalt which when rubbed produces red powder, came from Bed II at Olduvai, Tanzania, dated at 1.7 million years ago (Oakley, 1981, p. 206-207). Subterranean Mining and Religion in Ancient Man
Red Ochre: Investigations of paleolithic, mesolithic and neolithic tombs throughout the world, in every climate and continent, reveal striking similarities in the funerary habits of man. Of all their affinities none are more commonly encountered than the custom of including red pigments with the body. This took the form of lumps of red stone scattered about the grave or the liberal coating of the deceased with the ground powder of some red mineral substance. In some cases the dead were completely submerged in a mass of red ochre. So numerous are the references to these ochre interments that pages could be filled merely by quoting their provenance… Many prehistorians have refrained from attaching any interpretation to this employment of red ochre (emphasis added).
Yet mines? Large-scale mines? One hundred thousand years old? Surely we are speaking here of hollows or depressions in the earth’s surface, which are possibly even accidental? No, we are very much not. One of the largest sites evidenced the removal of a million kilos of ore. At another site half a million stone-digging tools were found, all showing considerable wear. All of the sites in fact produced thousands of tools and involved the removal of large quantities of ore; and while some were open quarries, others had true mining tunnels. Cities of Dreams
The Use of Ground Hematite in African Burials Sites
Nubian Desert about 3,500 BC: burials were sprinkled over with sizeable amounts of hematite dust - a custom widespread in prehistoric times, in both the old and the new world. Nabta Playa 2005
Excavations in the Bahariya Oasis: governor of Bahariya in the 26th Dynasty, Djed-Khonsu-Euf-Omkh. A large sarcophagus, weighing 16 tons was in the tomb, and from this tomb a maze of corridors and other rooms were discovered. The strangest thing that I had ever seen surrounded the sarcophagus. A yellow powder, with a very bad smell, was poured all around the site and was a half meter deep. It took my team two weeks to remove the powder, which turned out to be ground hematite. This powder was used as a pigment for paint and such, but why the people chose to pour it around the tombs is still not understood. Article by Zahi Hawass
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