Instructor: Hannah Herrick
From Tutankhamun’s golden-hued tomb (ca. 1300 BCE) to today’s sunshine yellow “smiley face” emoji, humans have always enjoyed a rainbow of colours. However, finding fashionable hues wasn’t always as easy as visiting the art supply shop. History is full of people using unusual materials (like rocks, plants, gemstones, cuttlefish and sea snails!) to create inventive new pigments. In this short course, we’ll explore the history and science of pigments through an archaeological perspective. We’ll discuss the earliest pigments used in cave paintings, ancient man-made colours, and the perils of creating and using the pigments and dyes of the past.
Week 1: “Colour words” and cave paintings
In our first session, we’ll break down the chemical and cultural ways that we understand the hues around us. We’ll also explore the archaeological evidence for the earliest use of mineral colours in cave paintings and other artwork.
Week 2: What’s in an ancient paint palette?
Humans from the past chose unexpected (and sometimes gross!) materials to create fashionable and coveted hues. In this session, we’ll learn about the very first synthetic pigments, and uncover some of the shocking origins of shades once worth their weight in gold.
Week 3: Putting colour science to work
In our last session, we’ll explore the far-reaching impact of studying the science of pigments. The chemistry of colour can help modern investigators identify fake artworks, solve crimes, democratize art, and learn more about the human past.
About the instructor: Hannah Herrick is a PhD Candidate, Francesco Berna at the Department of Archaeology at SFU.