By K. Kris Hirst

Bitumen is a naturally occurring substance, a black, oily or viscous goo or liquid derived from organic matter, that is best known as the main tourist attraction at La Brea tar pits. Tourists visiting California unfailingly comment on the strong odor of the place, before and after they visit the Page Museum.

It turns out, however, that bitumen was used in all kinds of interesting ways in the prehistoric and historic past, as water proofing, glue, building mortar, incense (!), and decorative application on pots and walls and stone tools and other things all over the world. . . Also known as asphalt or tar. . . [it] was also useful in waterproofing canoes and other water transport, and in the mummification process toward the end of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt. It is also flammable. And, thanks to recent scholarship, this gooey stuff is also identifiable to source.

The earliest known use of bitumen was by Neanderthals, some 40,000 years ago. Bitumen was found adhering to stone tools used by Neanderthals at sites such as Hummal and Umm El Tlel in Syria; it was probably used to fasten a wooden or ivory haft to the sharp edged tools. During the late Uruk and Chalcolithic periods at Hacinebi, in Syria, bitumen was used for construction of buildings and water proofing of reed boats, among other uses. Some of this bitumen was found to have originated from the Hit seepage on the Euphrates River in southern Mesopotamia. . .

 

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