Red ochre in the context of "Hematite"

A rubric is a word or section of text that is traditionally written or printed in red ink for emphasis. The word derives from the Latin rubrica, meaning red ochre or red chalk, and originates in medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 13th century or earlier. In these, red letters were used to highlight initial capitals (particularly of psalms), section headings and names of religious significance, a practice known as rubrication, which was a separate stage in the production of a manuscript.

Rubric can also mean the red ink or paint used to make rubrics, or the pigment used to make it. Although red was most often used, other colours came into use from the late Middle Ages onwards, and the word rubric was used for these also. Medievalists can use patterns of rubrication to help identify textual traditions.

Red chalk is chalk of a reddish-brown color, which was used as a material for drawing. It is obtained from the red ochre variety of hematite. Another term for red chalk, common in older references, is sanguine (/ˈsæŋɡwɪn/). The word comes via French from the Italian sanguigna and is originally from the Latin "sanguis"; it refers to the color's similarity to that of dried blood.

Red chalk was used by the ancient Egyptians and ancient Romans for wall painting. By the 16th century deposits were known in Italy, Spain, Flanders, France, and Germany, and the material became a popular medium for drawing. Leonardo da Vinci, in the late 15th century, was the first major artist to work in the medium.

The Venus of Willendorf is an 11.1-centimetre-tall (4.4 in) Venus figurine estimated to have been made c. 30,000 years ago. It was recovered on 7 August 1908 from an archaeological dig conducted by Josef Szombathy, Hugo Obermaier, and Josef Bayer at a Paleolithic site near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria. The figurine was found by a workman named either Johann Veran or Josef Veram and is carved from an oolitic limestone that is not local to the area, and tinted with red ochre. It is in the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria as of 2003.

Timbisha (Tümpisa) or Panamint (also called Koso) is the language of the Native American people who have inhabited the region in and around Death Valley, California, and the southern Owens Valley since late prehistoric times. There are a few elderly individuals who can speak the language in California and Nevada, but none are monolingual, and all use English regularly in their daily lives. Until the late 20th century, the people called themselves and their language "Shoshone." The tribe then achieved federal recognition under the name Death Valley Timbisha Shoshone Band of California. This is an Anglicized spelling of the native name of Death Valley, tümpisa, pronounced [tɨmbiʃa], which means "rock paint" and refers to the rich sources of red ochre in the valley. Timbisha is also the language of the so-called "Shoshone" groups at Bishop, Big Pine, Darwin, Independence, and Lone Pine communities in California and the Beatty community in Nevada. It was also the language spoken at the former Indian Ranch reservation in Panamint Valley.