Growing up in London in the 1920's Sir Ralph Richardson was told in hushed tones that in certain parts of the city at night "the boys PAINT themselves!"
He said never understood what was so scandalous about that because he thought that people meant that they 'painted themselves" like "wild Indians" which as a young boy he "didnt think was so bad-in fact it seemed kinda cool."
Someone once observed that "Paint on men is considered a sign of savagery-- paint on women is considered a sign of civilization!"
In the 1970's Francois Borde, formost authority on Neanderthal acheaology in his native France, frequently found large crayon-like pieces of charcoal, or red ocher, in Neanderthal caves.
He intrepreted these as body paint.
And as evidence that the Neanderthals were relatively light skinned (since the pigments they used as body paint were dark).
So the notion that Neanderthals painted themselves "like wild Indians" is an old one.
But this theory that they were into make-up is new.
Ive allways read that "cosmetic parafanalia" goes back to the Neolithic Middle East but there's little evidence of it before that ( ie before 10 K years ago). So pushing it back to the Neanderthals would be dramatic if proven.
12 Jan 2010, 11:27 pm
