Dye: Did you mean...?

Batavian revolt was a rebellion of the Batavians against the Romans in 69-70 CE. After initial successes by their commander Julius Civilis, the Batavians were ultimately defeated by the Roman general Quintus Petillius Cerialis. The year...

The Ulunsuti tales of the Cherokee deal with the mystical jewel, the Ulunsuti ("transparent"), a diamond on the forehead of the great horned serpent Uktena. The Ulunsuti appears in several Cherokee legends, but the story is developed through...

Traditional Lebanese handicrafts are considered to be a major sector of the living cultural heritage in the rural areas of Lebanon. Transmitted from one generation to another, traditional rural Lebanese handicrafts have been able to persist...

The Wise Man of Chief Mountain is an origin story of the Blackfeet nation explaining how they came to wear brightly colored clothing. Although Native American nations generally wore clothing dyed different colors, the Blackfeet were famous...

Certain materials have always been precious such as gold for its lustre, incorruptibility, and ease to work but some ancient cultures often gave a very high value to more unusual materials. The Romans loved Tyrian purple dye, the Incas prized...

Between c. 1100 and 600 BCE, the Phoenician city-states of the Levant, especially Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, and Arwad, developed one of the ancient Mediterranean’s most dynamic maritime trading systems. Rather than expanding through unified territorial...

Bison skulls piled at Michigan Carbon Works in Rougeville, outside of Detroit, Michigan, USA, 1892. The bones were processed for various commodities such as glue, dye, and fertilizer. Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library...

An 1894 illustration showing the uniform of a Grenadier, 40th Foot regiment, 1767. The soldier is wearing his famous "red coat" made with cochineal dye. From R. H. Raymond Smythies (1894). Historical Records of the 40th (2nd Somersetshire...

Examples of the Murex haustellum brandaris shellfish, one of the sources of Tyrian purple dye.

An 18th-century illustration showing a Mesoamerican using the traditional method of collecting insects to make the prized cochineal dye. (The Newberry Library)