49,000 years ago South Africans used Milk-based Painting

While the use of ochre by early humans dates to at least 250,000 years ago in Europe and Africa,  this sis the first time a paint containing ochre and milk has ever been found in association with early humans in South Africa, said Poala Villa a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural history and lead study author. The milk likely was obtained by killing lactating members of the bovid family such as buffalo, eland, kudu and impala, she said.

The powdered paint mixture was found on the edge of a small stone flake in a layer of Sibudu Cave, a rock shelter in northern KwaZulu-Natal, Africa, that was occupied by anatomically modern humans in the Middle Stone Age from roughly  77,000 years ago to about 38,000 years ago. Said Villa. While ochre powder production and its use are documented in a number of Middle Stine Age South African sites, there has been no evidence of the use of milk as a chemical binding agent until this discovery.

Cattle were not domesticated in South Africa until 1,000 to 2,000 years ago and Wild South African Bovids are known to separate from the herd when giving birth and usually attempt to hide their young, a behavior that may have made them easy prey for experienced Middle Stone Age hunters. 

Source: University of Colorado