Caption: L to R Chinese language ladies utilizing cinnabar to color their brow (supply: portray from the Admontions Scrolls, by Gu Kiazhi); The red-stained enamel of the Crimson Princess found in Shengjindian website, in China. The pink pigment comes from the poisonous cinnabar. Picture courtesy of Dr Qian Wang, Texas A&M College Faculty of Dentistry
All through historical past the color pink has been related to deep religious and symbolic meanings. The color pink represents life, demise, and entry to afterlife. It’s usually additionally related to the central position in shamanic rituals and burial customs. That is the place an fascinating discovery throws mild on how previous these ritualistic practices could have been.
The Discovery Of A Distinctive Burial
In 2007, archaeologists began to excavate the Shengjindian cemetery in Turpan City. That is situated in northwest China. The workforce uncovered stays of younger grownup feminine. What set this skeleton aside from others was the presence of a vivid pink pigment on her enamel. Evaluation utilizing Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and Fourier Remodel Infrared Spectroscopy confirmed that the substance was cinnabar. Cinnabar is a extremely poisonous mercury sulfide mineral traditionally prized for its vibrant pink hue.
This marked the primary case of cinnabar being intentionally utilized in human enamel in antiquity. Researchers additionally consider that this pink pigment was mounted onto the enamel to make use of as a protein binder, in all probability derived from animal sources.
What Was Cinnabar’s Position In Historical Cultures?
Regardless of its toxicity, cinnabar has been used throughout cultures for 1000’s of years. It was discovered on an 8,500-year-old ceramics in China. It had been used as a pigment in murals, and as a key ingredient in alchemical practices which aimed toward reaching immortality. The mineral’s presence within the burial of the Crimson Princess means that its utility was extra than simply ornamental. There had a deeper which means, possibly a gate to afterlife.
Cinnabar was generally related to shamanic traditions, the place pink was believed to carry protecting and transformative powers. Some historic cultures thought the soul resided within the enamel, making the act of dyeing them pink a potential try to protect the deceased’s essence or information them safely into the afterlife.
Is There Any Connection Between Cinnabar and Silk Street?
The presence of cinnabar in Shengjindian additionally highlights the intensive commerce of that point. The Western Han Dynasty, throughout which the Crimson Princess had lived noticed Turpan as an important commerce hub alongside the silk Street. Nevertheless, there had been no mines of cinnabar within the area, so almost certainly it was imported elsewhere from Asia or Europe. The commerce occurred alongside the route of the Silk street.
Whereas the precise cause for making use of cinnabar stays unknown, students have proposed a number of interpretations for a similar. The apply might have been a part of a spiritual or shamanic ritual, a beauty enhancement, or perhaps a medicinal therapy. Some historic texts recommend that cinnabar was ingested or utilized topically in therapeutic practices, believed to hypnotize, delay life, and push back evil spirits.
