The Weird and Often Gross History of Pigment

Dec 20

The Weird, Gross, and Fascinating History of Pigments: An Ancient Tale of Color and Chaos

Color—it’s everywhere, yet its history is as weird and shocking as it gets. In this week’s episode of For the Love of History, I team up with our resident archaeologist and pigment enthusiast Hannah Herrick to uncover the strange, deadly, and sometimes smelly origins of the colors we take for granted today. From ground-up bugs to snail mucus, you’ll never look at your paintbox—or makeup bag—the same way again.

So, let’s dive in: the colors of the past are about to blow your mind.

The First Colors: Ancient Pigments and Early Art

Our journey starts over 50,000 years ago, when humans created the first known pigments using whatever they could find in nature. Think of classic cave art—handprints, animals, and simple shapes—painted with earthy reds, yellows, and blacks. These colors weren’t carefully mixed in a lab but instead came straight from minerals like ocher, hematite, and charcoal.

Hannah likens it to a playground discovery: picture a child rubbing a rock on cement and watching color appear. Ancient artists did the same thing, grinding rocks into powder and mixing them with water to bring their visions to life.

To add black to their palette, they burned wood or bone to create soot. For white, they ground up chalk, a natural form of limestone. These pigments were simple but durable, giving us a peek into the artistic expressions of our distant ancestors—expressions that are still visible in caves today.

Deadly Beauty: When Colors Kill

Fast-forward thousands of years, and humans got a little too creative with pigments. Enter Lead White: a luminous pigment adored by artists and aristocrats, including Queen Elizabeth I. But beauty came at a price. This white paint, made by combining lead, vinegar, and dung (yes, really), was highly toxic. Ancient Romans, medieval painters, and even 17th-century royalty used it—unaware of the long-term health effects of literally painting themselves with poison.

Equally deadly was orpiment, a golden yellow pigment made of arsenic. Used by the Egyptians to paint King Tut’s tomb, it was both dazzling and dangerous. If you’re planning a trip to ancient tombs, maybe don’t touch the walls—Hannah has warned us!

The Curious Case of Purple: Snails, Stench, and Sumptuary Laws

Purple has always been the color of royalty, but its creation was far from glamorous. In ancient Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon), Tyrian Purple—also called imperial purple—was made by crushing tens of thousands of predatory sea snails. The snails produced a tiny amount of purple mucus, and, naturally, ancient artisans turned it into one of the most coveted dyes in history.

The process? Horrifically smelly. Imagine fish guts, sea snail juice, and urine (used as a fixative) simmering together to produce robes fit for emperors. But not just anyone could wear purple. In Roman times, wearing Tyrian Purple without imperial permission was punishable by death. Fashion has never been so high-stakes.

Egyptian Blue: The World’s First Synthetic Pigment

While some pigments came from the earth, others were born from pure human ingenuity. Around 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians invented Egyptian Blue, the first-ever synthetic pigment. Made from copper, calcium, and silica, this vibrant blue was a favorite for tomb paintings, statues, and royal artifacts.

What makes Egyptian Blue even cooler? It fluoresces under infrared light. Modern scientists use this property to study ancient objects without even touching them. It’s so versatile that it’s even been tested for fingerprinting in forensics. The ancient Egyptians were clearly ahead of their time.

Red, Red, Everywhere: From Bugs to Alchemy

If purple sounds weird, red might just take the crown for “most bizarre origins.” Two of the most famous reds—cochineal red and scarlet—both involve bugs. In Central and South America, artisans harvested cochineal insects from cacti, ground them up, and used the resulting crimson dye for textiles and art. The process required crushing thousands of tiny insects to produce just a small amount of pigment.

Meanwhile, in Europe, scarlet came from a similar process involving insects. Even Pliny the Elder (who seems to have had an opinion on everything) wrote about it. If you’ve ever eaten something dyed with “carmine” or “natural red,” congratulations—you’ve likely encountered a modern version of this bug-based pigment.

And let’s not forget vermilion. This rich red was created from cinnabar, a mineral laced with mercury. Artists loved it; alchemists revered it as a mystical pigment. Poisonous, yes, but oh-so-beautiful.

Why This Episode Will Blow Your Mind

This isn’t just a story about color—it’s about the ingenuity, creativity, and occasional recklessness of humans throughout history. Hannah and I explore how pigments evolved from dirt and rocks to synthetic blues and poisonous whites, all while sharing the kinds of weird and gross details that make history irresistible.

You’ll also hear about:

Marie Antoinette’s “flea-colored” dress (yes, fleas).
Why ancient Greeks described the sea as “wine-dark.”
The science behind color perception—and why magenta doesn’t technically exist.

Plus, Hannah explains how archaeologists today use “science lasers” (a very technical term) to analyze pigments and uncover secrets of the past.

About Our Guest: Hannah Herrick

Hannah is an archaeologist and PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University, specializing in ancient technologies and materials. When she’s not studying pigments, she’s crafting, illustrating, and geeking out about history. This is her third time on For the Love of History, and let’s just say—you’ll want her back for a fourth.

Ready to Geek Out on Color?

🎧 Listen Now to The Weird and Often Gross History of Pigments and discover how humans painted the world—sometimes at great cost.

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