ochre

Ingredients

beeswax, ochre

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The wax paste is formulated by mixing beeswax with 25% ochre (p. 26). The paper discusses the pedagogical application of this material, where schoolchildren conducted preliminary experiments to explore solubility, melting point, and thermal behavior to develop an 'ideal' recipe for a cuneiform-oriented wax paste (p. 30). In a professional context, characterization of such waxes includes the determination of acid number, ester value, and saponification number (p. 27).

Evidence

"The wax paste is made of beeswax with 25% ochre; the text reads: “Wind blow, orchard shake, Clouds gather, droplets fall!"

Remarks

The study explores wax boards as a forgotten writing technology from the Ancient Near East. Beeswax was historically the only material that allowed for repeated erasing or correcting in cuneiform writing (p. 29). The project, 'WoW! Writing on Wax', aimed to reconstruct these materials through chemical and historical perspectives (p. 27).