How old is woad?
Which of the following - ceramic pots, silk yarn, glass, woad or wheels - has the oldest archaeological record?
Ceramic pots or fired pottery are the oldest, in 6,500 BC. Surprisingly, it was the second before the wheel, silk or glass; humans stored seeds in the Stone Age, probably as early as 7000 years ago. Blue linen or marijuana fragments found in a cave site in Adauste, southern France, fell in the Neolithic Age, while residents of other Neolithic sites stored seeds. The other items on the list came from the later Bronze Age. The first transport wheel was invented in Egypt around 3,200 BC. The first silk was discovered in China around 2700 BC, and the glass was only in BC. Invented in Phoenician in 1500.
If you have tried to extract the pigment from the leaves, you will realize that this is a complex process that requires an alkaline environment, proper temperature and oxygen removal. At first glance, it seems almost impossible for someone to accidentally encounter this technique.
Despite its complexity, most cultures around the world have independently discovered how to use plant dyed fibers from different households. For example, Indigo comes from the legume family for Asia and Central America; in Africa, they use Lonchocarpus, another member of the legume family. In India, they use an oleander to dye, while Sumatra uses milkweed; Japanese indigo is associated with rhubarb, while European and Chinese indigo are caged families.
How did people discover how to dye with woad?
It may be through direct observation, and it may be noted that when the leaves are accidentally pressed against the clothes, the clothes become a pale blue. Some of these leaves may have medicinal properties and may have been shredded with a paste under a bandage. Another possibility is that the Neolithic people or his animals mix with the chewed wool when the famine and saliva mix, and become weak blue when contacted with the clothing in the fiber.
For centuries, this process has evolved into a purposeful crushing of gravel leaves against fiber. The leaves must be fresh for direct staining, so plants that produce blue are likely to have been cultivated by more and more people. This happens in the case of the native origins of the Mediterranean [Turkey and Middle East] that have slowly spread to Europe.
Dyed textile blue
Linen and marijuana are the main fibers of the Neolithic Age and are not as easy to dye as wool. Another complicating factor is that direct dyeing is a slow method that allows only a limited amount of fiber to be dyed. Therefore, the color will be used with caution, mainly for the edges of the fabric. In fact, around 2,500 BC, blue ropes were found in some fabrics used to wrap mummies in ancient Egypt, although colored borders may have been widely used in 300 BC.
All the chemicals needed for dyeing are readily available. Ammonia in the form of old urine is usually used for cleaning because soap was not invented until the first century AD. Older urine is alkaline, and bacteria living in it can remove oxygen from the liquid. A pile of leaves gathers near the home for direct dyeing, and sooner or later it will fall into the urine bucket in the summer, and the next fabric to be washed in the bucket will be light blue. Anyone who witnessed this will be impressed.
Over time, wool became available and a better dyeing process was developed to make it easier to dye enough fibers to weave the entire garment. A young girl in a blue dress was found in an iron age tomb in Denmark [around 1st century AD] and is very likely to be dyed with woad.
Woad and pottery
Woad is not only used for dyeing; the rich black seeds are shaped like a tongue, with a ridge in the middle, and the tail is small, leaving a beautiful impression on the clay. These seeds were used to decorate the pottery of the German Iron Age settlement.
Woad vat
Urine buckets, also known as sig vats, are still used today for historical re-enactment or as a simple and inexpensive way to dye. However, most of today's dyers have no patience to wait for two weeks of urinal work, or they are prepared to endure the smell of old urine. If you want to dye with woad, the easiest and quickest way is to prepare a chemical vat, use soda ash to make the vat alkaline, and use the spectral stone to remove oxygen.
No matter which method you choose, ancient or modern woad vats, you will find it very exciting to get the same blues as the Stone Age men. If you want to go further, you can grow easily and then extract your very precious blue pigment.
Orignal From: Woad in the Stone Age
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