DHA 33 (Dyes in History and Archaeology Conference)

摘要

Ancient Chinese dyes, brazilwood, iron gall-dyed fabrics and shellfish purple were among many natural dyes featured in papers at the 33rd DHA Conference. Of the 24 papers presented, I particularly enjoyed Ewa Orlinska-Mianowska's team's research on Polish cochineal. To identify the use of Polish (as opposed to American) cochineal, analysis was undertaken on textiles from the National Museum of Warsaw. The presentation also included tasty historical snippets on medicinal and social use. Did you know that Polish cochineal was used to protect against miscarriage? Or that horse's tails were dyed with it on special occasions? Margareta Bergstrand's paper outlined her work on Arctostaphylos uva-ursi known as 'Swedish sumac', bearberry, or mjoelon. Researching literature and historical archives for information, her paper studied the historical use of the yellow dye for fibre, in tanning, and also as a mordant. To those practical dyers in the audience (and there were quite a few), Margareta's images of her own dyed samples added a real immediacy and relevance to her paper.