The Most Ancient Stain In the youth of our kind men of many tribes sought out, mined and painted themselves with ochre, the "bones of the gods." The most sought after earth pigment was red ochre, with the ancients sometimes thinking it the blood of ancient gods and giants slain in titanic battles. Or, at the chemical level, did our most ancient ancestors realize that this oxidized iron, the rust of the earth, was related to the hard-edged metal that would someday tear us to shreds in our groaning millions and leave the teeming survivors dependent on a great, metal-boned apathy machine? 40,000 Years from Home is an examination of, as well as a meditation on the lesser, graceless side of human kind.