At ~160ka, roughly at the end of our African speciation, archaeologists identify a change from sporadic to habitual use of red ochre. They interpret this as primarily a pigment for decorating performers’ bodies during communal rituals. What were these rituals, and why was red so central to the establishment and unfolding of the symbolic domain? Archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists are cautious about turning to hunter-gatherer ethnography as a resource in evaluating competing explanatory hypotheses. Challenging convention, this article presents the first cross-cultural comparative review of African hunter-gatherer ritual use of red substances and associated beliefs. The most consistent symbolic theme encountered is a metaphoric relationship between women’s reproduction and men’s hunting. This accords with over a century of social anthropological speculative thought and a prediction made by the Female Cosmetic Coalitions hypothesis of the emergence of symbolic culture. This hypothesis also predicted – long before it could be tested – the establishment of habitual red ochre use by ~160-140ka. The main competing hypothesis, positing intergroup competition of male coalitions, has yet to generate predictions testable in the light of symbolic evidence. Ethnography cannot be transposed onto the deep past, but it can help constrain evolutionary interpretations of the early ochre record.
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