Ochre

This box shows the color ochre.

Ochre or Ocher is a golden-yellow or light yellowish brown colour. The word is from the Greek ochros, meaning "yellow". Ochre is natural earth pigment containing hydrated iron oxide.

Meaning of ochre

The use of ochre is particularly intensive: it is not unusual to find a layer of the cave floor impregnated with a purplish red to a depth of eight inches. The size of these ochre deposits raises a problem not yet solved. The colouring is so intense that practically all the loose ground seems to consist of ochre. One can imagine that the Aurignacians regularly painted their bodies red, dyed their animal skins, coated their weapons, and sprinkled the ground of their dwellings, and that a paste of ochre was used for decorative purposes in every phase of their domestic life. We must assume no less, if we are to account for the veritable mines of ochre on which some of them lived.

Tones of ochre colour comparison chart

• Banana Yellow (Yellow Ochre) (Human Feces) (Hex: #CCCC33) (RGB: 204, 204, 51)
• Ochre (Hex: #CC7722) (RGB: 204, 119, 34)