Archeologists found that potters across the Wari empire all used the same rich black pigment to make ceramics used in rituals: a sign of the empire's influence.

Different empires had colourings that were regionally distinct.

When British Royalty were using purple as a regal colour, their explorers had come to meet first Nations people and discovered that we had used purple as a distinct colour as well!

We had used purple colourings in our wampum which came from quohog shells to make the beads.

(it escapes me at the moment about how else, and where else first nations had used purple)

This was a great article!

Thank you!

Well all of European royalty used purple because the Roman Emperors did for the reasons you outlined

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Do they use pee too or did they have a less stinky method?

We had plants available in the region that would be foreign to Europe that were suitable as an organic dye.

In Europe, purple was reserved for royalty because it was extremely rare, being extracted from the Dye Murex. Two cultures where royal purple was obtained from a kind of snail.

and it took something like 10-30 thousand shells to make like an ounce of dye

Part of why it was extremely rare.

Why didn’t they just mix red and blue to make purple?

Blue was also a tough one. Most common blue dye was indigo/woad (same pigment produced by two different plants), which due to its nature needed to be applied in a different manner from other dyes. Ultramarine blue existed for painting, but it was expensive (pigment made from crushed semiprecious stone). It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution when chemists started working with coal tar (byproduct of the local gasworks) that a cheap, stable blue dye (Prussian blue) became available.

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royal purple is a burgundy shade, not violet

I prefer my snails medium rare thank you

That joke was well done.

Yep. In East Asia in contrast, purple was not a royal color probably because it was not as rare. Beginning in the Zhou Dynasty, the kingdoms of the region had learned to produce synthetic purple & synthetic blue called "Han purple" and "Han blue" through a combination of mixing and/or melting different ores together. The Qin Terra Cotta soldiers had their some parts of their armor painted with some purple and blue colors. By the time the synthetic dyes were no longer as common, the culture(s) at that point had already associated other colors with royalty.

Apparently all the expensive dyes (blue, purple) were extremely stinky, even years after washing the fabrics.

I'd like to add that different colors means different things in different parts of the world. In Europe and the Mediterranean, purple was a rare and expensive color typically reserved for royalty. In East Asia by contrast, purple was not a royal color probably because it was not as rare. Beginning in the Zhou Dynasty, the kingdoms of the region had learned to produce synthetic purple & synthetic blue called "Han purple" and "Han blue" through a combination of mixing and/or melting different ores together. The Qin Terra Cotta soldiers had their some parts of their armor painted with some purple and blue colors. By the time the synthetic dyes were no longer as common, the culture(s) at that point had already associated other colors with royalty.

Couldn’t they just mix red and blue?

Brilliant red wasn't accessible until the Colombian exchange. It comes predominantly from cochineal beetles, even to this day. (Red 40, anyone?). Blue existed, but mixing what they had access to would create a muddy, brown- or gray-hued purple instead of the brilliant hue of true royal purple.

Brilliant red wasn't accessible until the Colombian exchange. It comes predominantly from cochineal beetles, even to this day. (Red 40, anyone?). Blue existed in some forms, but the accessible inexpensive ones were not very bright either. They were typically plant-derived. Mixing what they had access to would create a muddy, brown- or gray-hued purple instead of the brilliant hue of true royal purple.

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Yep, they mixed the crushed snails with urine to make the dye. The urine (or the ammonia in it) acted as a mordant to fix or bind the dye to the fabric, so all that expensive purple dye won't get leached out when you washed it.

Needless to say, you probably won't want to live near a dye works back in those days.

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Fun fact... Starbucks strawberry Frappuccino uses a food dye made from those beetles.

Hakuna matata!

The Ikoot people of Oaxaca, Mexico use purple dye from snails, just like the Romans did.

Edit: And, to clarify, they were doing so long before Europeans arrived in the Americas.

Thanks!

Cheers!

Lapis Lazuli is my favorite semi precious stone

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Thanks for the info. I didn’t think about what the colors were made of would effect how they mix

It is important that it was royal purple that was reserved. By the High Middle Ages at latest they knew how to mix other purple dyes, they just weren't made from such exotic ingredients and had a different tone so you could tell it was a different dye.

Same for royal red colors. There were other reds, but the price of the dye was part of the bragging rights.