Madder， cochineal， Mauveine; these words may be unfamiliar but they’re the names of dyes made from a plant， an insect and a chemical that have shaped our world. While indigo is arguably the most recognized dye—the plant which colored King Tutankhamun’s burial shrouds and more recently makes your denim blue—there are dozens of other dyestuffs that have incited murder and subterfuge， made and lost fortunes and turned clothes into a status symbol for thousands of years.

茜草红、胭脂虫红、苯胺紫，这几个词可能看着有些陌生，它们分别是植物、昆虫和化学品制成的染料的名称，正是这些染料塑造了我们的世界。靛蓝可以说是人们最熟悉的染料——从图坦卡蒙法老的裹尸布，到今天的蓝色牛仔裤，都是用它染色的——而其实还有其他几十种染料，在数千年间引发过谋杀事件和阴谋诡计，让财富聚了又散，也让服装变成了一种地位象征。

In a new book exploring the history of dyes， author and textile designer Lauren MacDonald weaves together the stories and science of color dating from prehistory to today; from the time of natural dyeing to modern synthetic production. “It’s been at least 26，000 years since humans started to dye，” the author writes. “Your great grandparents （999 removed） were stirring a bubbling vat of dye… while woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats roamed the earth.” Indeed， in 2009， scientists found fibers of dyed flax up to 34，000 years old in a cave in the Caucasus mountains in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

劳伦·麦克唐纳是一位作家兼纺织品设计师，在一本探究染料史的新书中，她把关于色彩的故事和科学交织在一起，时间跨度从史前到如今，从过去的天然染色讲到现代合成染料的生产过程。“人类开始染色到如今至少有2.6万年了。”作者写道，“当地球上还有长毛象和剑齿虎在徜徉的时候，你的曾（省略了999个曾）祖父母就在搅动一桶冒着泡的染料了。”事实上，2009年，科学家们在前苏联加盟共和国格鲁吉亚境内，高加索山脉的一个山洞里，发现了距今3.4万年之久的染色亚麻纤维。

Get madder

茜草染色热潮

The earliest sample of dye made from madder， an herb plant with lemon-red flowers， was found on a mummy in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. Dated to around 300 CE， Yingpan Man the mummy is cloaked in a kaftan of scarlet wool lined with red silk dyed with madder， in a style that hints at Greek and Persian influences; proof of the extensive trade routes that existed at the time. A common source of red dye dating back 4，000 years， madder doesn’t produce the reddest red （that award goes to dyes made from insects， including cochineal and kermes）， but it still prompted European textile firms to send spies to Turkey from the 15th century onwards， to glean the secrets to creating a colorfast madder red. Meanwhile in the 13th-century Italian city-state of Lucca， dyers protected their livelihoods with ferocious laws. If you were caught using an “inferior” red dye made from roots like madder， instead of crushed bugs like kermes， you risked losing your savings—or one of your hands.

茜草是一种开橘黄色小花的草本植物，最早的茜草染色样本是在中国新疆维吾尔自治区的“营盘人”干尸身上发现的，其生活年代约在公元300年前后，他身穿猩红色毛料长袍，内衬是用茜草染成红色的丝绸，衣物的样式显示出希腊和波斯的影响，这证明当时的贸易路线覆盖范围广袤。