The Colourant Mapping Project: approaching the evidence of colourant production in the Aegean during the Hellenistic and Roman Period through Kea, Kos and Rhodes

Abstract

Over the last decades, polychromy research has provided insight into the rich variety of materials that composed the ancient Mediterranean palette, including minerals, rocks, earths, metal oxides, lakes and pyrotechnological products. Even though polychromy is considered an important aspect of ancient Greek and Roman art, the organisation of colourant production and trade remains rather underexplored. This is possibly due to the inherent complexity of pigments and dyes as archaeological materials and the variability of possible sources. Recent methodological advances have demonstrated the potential to trace the provenance of raw materials and to identify colourant production loci. This paper introduces the Colourant Mapping Project (CMP), which we are currently developing as a novel bibliographic and dissemination tool for researching colourant production and trade. The Aegean islands of Kea, Kos and Rhodes are three case studies included in the CMP that provide varied evidence of colourant production through a combined methodology using literary sources, archaeological and geological information for evaluating potential colourant production sites. Kea is mentioned in ancient texts as an excellent source of red earth, controlled by Athenian exportation legislation. The geology of Kea supports this; however, no earth pigment production sites are currently known and archaeometric evidence connecting to local raw materials is lacking. Kos, on the other hand, lacks historical evidence for local colourant production while a recently well-described multicrafting workshop and abundant archaeological finds substantiate colourant production on this island. The geological evidence also supports a local provenance for some of the materials processed on Kos (earth pigments), yet raw materials such as copper (for Egyptian blue) still required importation from elsewhere. Lastly, Rhodes was praised for its lead white and murex purple production by ancient writers and archaeological evidence might verify both, although not as clearly as is the case of Koan colourant production. The geological information for Rhodes also hints at raw material importation as no local lead ore deposits are known. The aim of the CMP is therefore twofold: on the one hand to evaluate the contribution of varied pieces of evidence to colourant provenancing and production, and on the other to situate the evidence of local colourant production within the context of Mediterranean networks of economic and cultural exchange. An ever-increasing and openly accessible bibliographic reference tool such as the CMP enables the investigation of the provenance of raw materials and colourants and can contribute to the reconstruction of ancient exchange networks.