Geochemical analysis of eight red ochres from western North America

In this paper we report on our examination of the suitability of geochemica l provenance studies on red ochre sources from western North America. We re port geochemical data derived from PIXE (particle-induced X-ray emission) a nalysis of eight red ochre sources from California, Oregon, Wyoming, and Al aska. Our preliminary analysis of these red ochres, including multiple samp les from one large deposit, suggests that the tested samples vary significa ntly between sources. Ir appears likely that the geochemical analysis of re d ochres, widely used and traded among Native Americans and other ancient p eoples around the world, could expand the range of materials used by archae ologists and other scholars to reconstruct past exchange and interaction sy stems.