Combined with other elements, iron oxide has resisted bad weather conditions for thousands of years. This same resistance is found in LANXESS iron-oxide based pigments.

The proven durability of the iron oxide.

Iron oxide-based pigments are known since pre-historical times, when men used them to engrave drawings on the caverns’ walls.

In Brazil the durability of such pigments is proven in thousands of cave paintings found at the Parque Nacional da Capivara, acknowledged as part of the World’s Historical Patrimony since 1991. They are representations of human beings and animals produced with iron oxide, argil and burnt bones.

The iron oxide in these paintings, some of them 35 thousand years old, not only resisted to bad weather, which is the primary criterion to assess pigments, but also escaped from the degradation promoted by human action, such as burnings over and deforesting.  

In addition to the renowned Parque Nacional da Capivara, there is another important archeological patrimony in Brazil the Natural Reserve Pousada das Araras. Located in Serranópolis,  372 km from Goiânia, this reserve also has cave paintings produced with iron oxide, argil and coal mixed with vegetal or animal fat that represent typical animals from the region and everyday scenes from ancient times.