Scientific search for a colourful past
The remnants of the distant past are often dull in colour due to their age and state of preservation. Each Antiquity issue when the editorial team discusses possible cover images, a recurrent comment is: “Something less brown, please.” This dullness of colour in artefacts and monuments inevitably creates negative and incorrect perceptions that the societies involved were similarly monotonous.
Colour is important for understanding human history and plays fundamental roles in our interpretation of everything from trade to religion to identity. Recent decades have brought new evidence for the use of colour in the past, mainly through ever-evolving technologies that allow the smallest traces of paint or dye to be identified. The four volumes collected here showcase such research. They present detailed investigations applying diverse technological methods that detect and determine traces of colour used in funerary rites, as paint on buildings, on sculptures and murals and as dyes for textiles. The publications encompass: the provenance and use of ochre and its connection to the Neolithisation process; how to identify colour in art work and monuments from Classical to Roman periods; how Late Antique Egyptian textiles were dyed and which colours were used; and finally a comprehensive history of the discovery and use of Maya Blue. The authors show not only how the colours were created and used, but also what they can represent. For instance, it is demonstrated how red symbolised blood or life in early farming societies in West Asia and south-east Europe, purple denoted specific (high) status in the Mediterranean during Late Antiquity/Early Medieval periods and blue highlighted a sacred or ritualised sphere for the Maya in Mesoamerica. Two recent Antiquity articles also investigate similar topics: one on indigo-dyed textiles and the other on cinnabar pigments (Maner et al. Reference Maner, Abay, Karadağ and Torgan Güzel2025; Dzneladze et al. Reference Dzneladze, Sikoza, Symonenko, Polit, Czech-Błonśka, Mista-Jakubowska and Siuda2025). In the modern world, where vibrant colours are common and the appearance of nearly anything can be transformed by modern industrial technologies according to the consumers’ wishes, we often underestimate how different colours could have impacted and shaped past societies and continue to shape our own.
Julia Kościuk-Załupka. 2023. The usage of ochre at the verge of Neolithisation from the Near East to the Carpathian Basin. Oxford: Archaeopress; 978-1-80327-336-5 paperback £45.
The book by Julia Kościuk-Załupka presents the results of her PhD and the funded project ‘Transmission of ideas: usage of ochre on the verge of Neolithisation from Levant to Carpathian Basin’. It encompasses research into the sources of ochre pigments and its uses in societies during the tenth to sixth millennium BC. Ochre as a substance has already been recognised in many archaeological contexts as a deliberately used colour since the Palaeolithic. This research focuses on whether ochre can (or cannot) be traced back to its sources through the analysis of the pigment/mineral in the archaeological record and the identification of a chemical fingerprint that can be compared to ochre outcrops. Together with the investigation of ochre in archaeological contexts it enables an understanding of what relevance ochre had for past people. The book explores if the tradition for ochre use began in Mesolithic societies and was continued by the incoming Neolithic groups or if ochre was used in a new way (e.g. as visible in different sources and contexts) in the Early Neolithic, and was thus part of the new way of life and the ‘Neolithic package’.
The research is structured in nine chapters, with a lengthy bibliography, appendices to the archaeological sites and the natural ochre outcrops. There are also online appendices with the results of the ochre analyses. The extensive Introduction places the whole research question within an overview of the Neolithisation processes and describes the temporal and geographical outlines and history of research. Furthermore, the methodical framework, main questions and aims are highlighted.
The second chapter discusses ‘everything’ ochre, and what it exactly encompasses, as it is a widely used term that is often wrongly mixed up with other minerals/pigments, such as cinnabar. The word ochre is mainly used in archaeology, and less in geology because it is regarded as too broad a term, and its origin in Greek means ‘yellow’. Both points show that a finer definition is needed, as most people would assume ochre to have reddish hues, yet the colour of pigments varies greatly between earthy yellow to red. The pigment colour is quite stable but can be altered through firing or oxidisation. The chemical profile of ochre minerals (consisting of iron oxides or oxide-hydroxides) and other minerals, which should be excluded from the term ochre, is summarised. The different potential methods of analysing ochre are then evaluated and those that best enable ochre’s characteristics to be identified are chosen, and then applied in this study.
The cultural background for the usage of ochre is discussed in Chapter 3 and, given the large scope of time and space, this is the longest chapter pulling together an enormous amount of information and summarising all archaeological evidence (ochre itself is rarely mentioned) for each of the four research areas—Levant, Anatolia, the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula and the Carpathian Basin. The chapter synthesises the Early Neolithic evidence on: sites and structures; typical artefacts; economy; anthropological observations; luxury and sacred artefacts; and the mortuary sphere. I did not expect such a wide background picture in this work but it shows that the author went to considerable lengths to connect the detailed ochre analyses with the research questions so that they are firmly anchored in the current discussions of Neolithisation.
Chapter 4 returns the focus to ochre, describing what ochre looks like in archaeological layers and why it is often missed during excavations. It also investigates the different meanings of the contexts in which ochre is found and delivers a nuanced interpretation ranging from the sacred to profane uses of ochre. A short summary of how ochre is used in ethnographic contexts broadens the understandings and possibilities of the meanings of ochre for past peoples.
Archaeological sites with ochre finds are studied in Chapter 6—it starts with an overview of where ochre was found first, then gives details of the four research areas and finally discusses the chronology, with special focus on their profane or sacred context. This encompasses the Levant (40 sites), Anatolia (18 sites) and the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula and the Carpathian Basin (together at least 40 sites). Again lots of information is gathered here and patterns emerge, but there are no easy answers owing to the enormous scope and diversity of finds. Ochre was used widely in sacred contexts, such as funerary rites, but the finds of stone tools with ochre traces, shows its use in a pulverised form as colour—for example, for dyeing hides, decorating pottery or painting walls. In turn, Chapter 7 tries to locate ochre outcrops in these areas as well as further afield and highlights possible links to areas of human occupation. Ochre finds and samples from outcrops are compared through scientific analyses with the aim to connect them and enable the provenance of the ochre finds to be determined. The discussion and results are collated in Chapter 8. However, the author stresses that this is only the first step and future research and analyses of further sources and finds will deliver a stronger picture of ochre use and sourcing.
Chapter 9 pulls all the different strands of enquiry together and places results from the four areas in relation to each other. The use of ochre is perceived to be a multifaceted phenomenon, and no single purpose can be identified, as it is common in both sacred and profane contexts and the use changes over time. It also cannot be addressed as part of the ‘Neolithic package’. The use of ochre was definitely linked to its colour, which in the case of reddish pigments can be interpreted as colour of life/blood. The colour was deliberately chosen and played an important part in the social life of these past societies.
Amidst an increasingly scientific archaeology, where it is possible to trace movements of people, plants and animals through aDNA and strontium analyses, and for objects (e.g. metals, ceramics, obsidian, amber) through isotopes and chemical analyses, the closer inspection of ochre and its sources is a further step into investigating societies and the materials they sourced and used on a deeper level. Ko ściuk-Załupka delivers a solid survey of the research area and embeds the search for ochre sources and usage deep into the cultural evidence of emerging Neolithic societies.
Hariclia Brecoulaki (ed.). 2024. Archaeology of colour: technical art history studies in Greek and Roman painting and polychromy (Meletemata 87). Turnhout: Brepols; 978-960-371-089-9 hardback €132.08.
“Random patches of colour persevered on the worn surface of architectural members, precious grains of pigments hidden within folds of a statue’s drapery, damaged paint layers on plastered walls and stone, invite us to recover the missing evidence, to reconstruct the fragmentary surface, to revive the history of their creation, their meaning and use” (p.7). In the inspiring Introduction, editor and author Hariclia Brecoulaki sets the tone for the meticulous studies compiled in this beautifully produced book and reflects on the developing scientific approaches, including the limits and subjectiveness of the applied methods. The 15 chapters are divided into three chronological parts—Archaic/Classical, Late Classical/Hellenistic and Roman period—with an additional section on colours. All chapters present in detail the possibilities of detecting and determining even the smallest remains of colour through diverse methods, preferably non-invasive ones, to reconstruct the colours and techniques that were originally used. Hence, the contributions are more concerned with the technology of painting rather than the style, contents and art history of the paintings. The methods used include combinations of: technical photography (multispectral/infra-red spectroscopy; acoustic, optical), polarising-petrographic microscopy, SEM-EDXA analysis, XRF-spectroscopy, Visual Induced Luminescence (VIL).
The first study investigates painted lions on an Archaic sarcophagus from Chiliomodi, Corinth, and delivers insights into the materials used (Maniatis et al.). For instance, it was established how the plaster was put on the stone of the sarcophagus, and what paint pigments and binders were combined. Egg was found to be the binder, which is known as the tempura technique, and has a long tradition in Greece, being already detected in Mycenaean paintings. The following three chapters all look at Archaic buildings in Athens and highlight how scientific investigations can reveal detailed decorations as well as the type of paint and how it was applied. Conservation work revealed ancient decorations on the coffered ceiling of the porch of the Karyatids in the Erechtheion, a richly adorned Archaic temple. Further analyses made it possible to understand the stratigraphy of the painted layers and identify the use of Egyptian blue in the decoration (Frantzi et al.). Chapter 3 looks at a part of the Parthenon, the north-west raking sima (a part of the outer roof edge) with a lion’s head (Aggelakopoulou et al.). The technical investigation delivered results of the still-visible decoration but also produced evidence of the non-visible. Furthermore, two ionic capitals from the Agora are scrutinised and accordingly experimentally reconstructed in colourful detail, making the splendour in this important building apparent (Brinkmann et al.).
The next part concentrates on Late Classical/Hellenistic times, starting with three chapters on funerary monuments in Macedonia. The hunt frieze on the tomb of Philip II in Aigai (Brecoulaki et al.) was investigated using new scientific methods to figure out its original composition and to question and correct past reconstructions as well as to guide future conservation work. Aigai also features in the next chapter; here, painted stelai from the ‘Great Tumulus’ are visually examined with multispectral imaging, revealing a more complete version of the painted figures (Kalaitzi & Verri). A further chapter searches for organic binders in wall paintings and clarifies some of the techniques used (Avionitou et al.). This is followed by a chapter on a rare case of gilded sculpture carved from boxwood from Kerch, Crimea, and a complex discussion on the spectrum of skin colour on sculptures and paintings (both by Blume-Jung).
Moving on to the Roman period, the study on the so-called ‘monochromes on marble’ from Herculaneum and Pompeii (Bracci et al.) highlights effectively how much details are missed and can be brought back to the surface through the applied methods, to reveal that they were indeed polychrome paintings. The search for traces of polychromatic paintings of sculptures in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki led to the identification of many pigments, which often survive only in tiny fragments (Adam-Veleni et al.). A spotlight on the reuse and repainting, though scarcely noticed, of Roman sarcophagi is a reminder that the monuments themselves and the painting have a longer history and underwent changes (Siotto).
The last part is concerned with colours and explores: the widespread use of Egyptian blue in Greek paintings (Brecoulaki et al.); how to provenance lapis lazuli and two ochres mentioned in ancient sources (Katsaros); and then considers if colour and prestige are connected in Greek art, with the conclusion that colour did not have a symbolic function (Walter-Karydi).
These combined chapters deliver a plethora of possibilities to study forensically the once-colourful objects and to retrieve many results from the tiny pieces of pigments, often not visible to the naked eye. They allow us to re-evaluate and re-imagine the original artist’s work. How the scientific methods are applied is, despite the high-end technology used, often comprehensively explained and well illustrated (e.g. Chapters 5 and 6). The authors and their teams of archaeologists, scientists, conservators and museum staff can be congratulated that their meticulous search for the minuscule traces of paints deliver a much brighter colourful past and emphasise the skills of the ancient artists and craftspeople.
Regina Hofmann-de Keijzer, Maarten R. van Bommel, Ineke Joosten & Ines Bogensperger. 2024. Late Antique textiles from the papyrus collection of the Austrian National Library: scientific investigation of fibres, dyes and dyeing techniques (Mitteilungen aus der Papyrussammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek XXXIV, 2; Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer). Berlin: De Gruyter; 978-3-11-077637-9 hardback £109.
This book is one of two volumes that investigate the Late Antique Egyptian (c. AD 300–800) textiles from the papyrus collection in the Austrian National Library. Volume 1 is an extensive catalogue work in German (Bogensperger Reference Bogensperger2024) and is complemented by this second volume, which compiles the scientific analyses of a carefully chosen sample of 83 textiles, 30 of which are detailed in a catalogue, and presents the results with comprehensive information on the Late Antique use of fibres and dyes. The multidisciplinary approach incorporates archaeological finds, textual sources and diverse scientific analyses and delivers a coherent picture of Late Antique dyeing techniques.
The research is structured in two parts. A general part first discusses the applied analytical methods and then the different components of this process: fibres, dyes and how the techniques were developed as well as how they can be dated (in some cases through the dyeing technique or dye used) and combines them with the results of the scientific analyses. The second part is a catalogue of the 30 samples and includes descriptions, the results of the applied analyses, such as optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX, RLM, TLM), the UHPLC-PDA method (Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with photo diode array detection) used for the dye analysis and a conclusion.
Furthermore, appendices list where and when the different components are evident in archaeological textiles (in Late Antique Egypt), an extensive bibliography and a handy glossary making this a very useful resource for any textile specialist. The authors must be commended though for explaining the diverse and difficult chemical processes of the dyeing techniques as well as the scientific analyses in an accessible style. I can recommend the book to a wider audience with an interest in textiles and dyeing because many of the ‘ingredients’ and processes were used for a long time, and some still today. As a non-specialist, I was intrigued by the complexity of the different dyeing processes, and the intricate knowledge that was necessary to achieve such colourful textiles in Antiquity and before—such as the species of plants, pigments and animals (marine molluscs and insects)—and the advanced technological possibilities to detect them in often very small samples of textiles.
To understand the dyeing process, the materials that were dyed are first introduced— wool, silk, linen, hemp and cotton—with explanations of when they would have been used. Dyed wool is the most common fibre in the samples analysed here. All fibres were processed in different ways and have varying characteristics, which impact how they can be best dyed. The dyeing techniques used are diverse and show sophisticated traditions with their origins in prehistoric times: direct, vat or mordant dyeing and combination of these. A broad colour-palette was achieved with relatively few dye ingredients. This variation of technologies is based on the solubility or insolubility of the organic and inorganic pigments and how they can be fixed to animal or plant fibers. Direct dyeing uses water-soluble dyes, and the fibres need only to be immersed in the solution, with sometimes light and oxygen needed to adhere pigments to the fibres. Vat dying uses water-insoluble pigments (mostly indigoid), that are put in an alkaline (reducing) solution to make them water-soluble. The immersed textile takes on the dye then, through oxidation in the air, the pigments become water-insoluble again (making them colour-fast). Mordant dyeing requires the textiles to be pre-treated with water-soluble metal salts (containing aluminium, iron or copper) and the metal ions bind to the fibre. Then they are dyed with red dyes (retrieved from plants or insects) or yellow dyes (from plants) and the dyes are fixed through the metal ions to the fibre. Animal fibres are best suited for mordant dyeing but can also be coloured by direct and vat dying. Most of the samples analysed in this publication show that in Late Antique Egypt wool was mainly dyed with mordant dyeing.
After the process of dyeing has been analysed details of the detected dyes are presented, each species of plant or animal is introduced, highlighting their distribution, cultivation/domestication, usage and dyeing characteristics as well as the evidence in Egyptian textiles. These include direct dyes, such as safflower for yellow and red; saffron for yellow; orchil (made from lichen) for purple dye; henna or Egyptian privet for orange. Vat dyes are made up of organic pigments from woad and indigo plants, and are the only known dyes for blue (with an excellent lightfastness). It is not possible to distinguish between the two in the current analyses used in the study. The other famous type of dye is purple made from three species of marine snails and is usually found in textiles mainly around the Mediterranean sea and rarely in Egypt. Known also as Tyrian or royal purple, the colour itself was a status symbol and the authors reach far back in time to illuminate the fascinating history of this dye. Mordant dyes to make items red stem mainly from the plant family Rubiaceae, such as dyer’s madder, and insects, such as kermes, lac, Armenian and Polish cochineal. Many of these examples have been used since prehistoric times. Lac dye was most likely introduced to Egypt during the Arab Period, from the last quarter of the seventh century AD, and can be taken as indicative of dating. Yellow mordant dyes are made from plants, with the weld plant being the most important source since ancient times.
The authors combine a great amount of scholarship and they deliver an insightful book that places the analyses of the sample textiles in the multifaceted background of dyeing techniques and dyes. “One of the basic needs of people is to decorate living space, objects and clothes with colour (p.16)”, and this book brings back some of these splendid colours for Late Antique Egypt and beyond. It is meticulously researched focusing on surviving small textile remains with molecular evidence of the origin of the colours.
Dean E. Arnold. 2024. Maya Blue: unlocking the mysteries of an ancient pigment. Denver: University Press of Colorado; 978-1-64642-667-6 hardback $45.
Dean Arnold, now a retired professor of anthropology, combines in this book his personal journey of research and discovery through a lifetime of studying Maya heritage with diverse scientific research, archaeological evidence, textual sources, ethnographical and experimental studies to deliver a holistic anthropological view on the use and cultural context of the pigment Maya Blue.
Maya Blue is the striking bright blue/green colour still visible today on many Maya monuments and objects, which was utilised first in the Late Pre-Classical period (300 BC–AD 300) and up to colonial times across Mesoamerica. It was first recognised as a pigment in 1931 and subsequent analyses and three decades of research finally revealed it to be a hybrid pigment made of an organic (indigo plant) and an inorganic part (palygorskite, a clay mineral). This human-created colourant is unique in the ancient world. The substance can withstand extreme weather conditions and its bright hues survived centuries because it is resistant to weak acids and alkalis. The uniqueness of the pigment has created much interest among material scientists and the author summarises the history of research on the topic and connects it to the Pre-Columbian textual sources that mention the colour and its use and production.
Depending on the source of palygorskite and the way it is combined with the indigo, the colour is more blue or green, but the exact colour was most likely not important to the Maya, as they do perceive a difference between the colours but use the same word (ya’ash) for both. Maya Blue though had a specific meaning and was used on sculptures, murals, pottery and in codices, and often to highlight a ritual context, such as in temple decoration and on human sacrifices; it symbolises the rain god Chaak. To verify the unique clay-organic technique of Maya Blue, other exploited common blue or green mineral pigments from across the globe, such as Lazurite, Azurite and Egyptian blue, are introduced and their characteristics compared.
To give insights to his own path of discovery we learn how the author early on in his career first uncovered palygorskite to be an ingredient in Maya pottery and, as a key component in Indigenous knowledge, called sak lu’um (white earth), it was used as pottery temper and for medicinal purposes. This led to an extensive ethnographical investigation of the possible sources of palygorskite/sak lu’um first in Yucatan and then the wider Maya area and it considers which ones may also have been exploited by the ancient Maya people. The comparison of the trace elements of Maya Blue taken from samples from Maya cities, such as Chichén Itzá and Palenque, and palygorskite sources reveals matching sources near Ticul and in Saculum, both traced through Indigenous knowledge. This means that these two sources were used by the ancient and the modern Maya. The other part of the hybrid-compound consists of parts of the indigo plant. Its use for dyeing textiles is presented and its distribution and use across Mesoamerica is outlined. The oldest evidence is, however, from much further south in Peru and dates back over 6000 years.
Supported by ethnographical and experimental studies, the two largest chapters 9 and 10 discuss the different methods of how Maya Blue was made. They begin with trying to unravel the complex cultural contexts that led to the creation of the pigment. This involves looking at rituals involving the burning of the incense copal (made from tropical tree sap). This research provides one method of how the ancient Maya made Maya Blue: the burning of copal together with palygorskite and indigo leaves. There are other possible ways that Maya Blue was produced, but all depend on the unique bonding characteristics of palygorskite and indigo, which are explained in detail. Arnold’s research also identifies some vessels among the archaeological material in which the compound was mixed. According to current research, the most likely process was to wet the palygorskite with a leachate made from indigo leaves, which was then ground and burnt with charcoal or copal. All the evidence taken together suggests that Maya Blue was not only being used in ritual and sacred contexts but its actual creation was also a ritual/ritualised.
Maya Blue became an important and valuable commodity for Maya society but its use spread slowly from the Yucatan peninsula across Mesoamerica. Different hypotheses of how it spread boil down to how the technology of the compound as well as the palygorskite, as its sources are limited, were transferred. In addition, the medical uses of this clay mineral make it more important. The book finishes with a look at what future research in archaeology and anthropology should address to help solve some of the still open and newly arisen questions, such as the search for further palygorskite sources and a better understanding of the importance of Maya Blue for the society.
Arnold indeed presents the reader with a full in-depth description of what there is to know about Maya Blue, and how its mysteries were unlocked. He combines the many strands of interests, his own and that of other scholars, telling the story of almost 100 years of exploration into Maya Blue. The text is written in an accessible way and it provides an enjoyable narrative, filled with comprehensive information and insights stemming from a life researching the Maya world, which illuminates much more than just the pigment. The lively account makes this world and book of interest to a wide audience and above all will spark curiosity for what can still be explored.
