If you think the greatest artists of the world used colors containing petroleum or chemicals, think again! Michelangelo, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Leonardo da Vinci and many artists before their time used only natural sources, from flower petals and ground seeds to ground minerals like lapis lazuli and turquoise. They mixed them with olive oil and other secret ingredients to achieve the colors that have made their art unsurpassed and timeless.
To this day, Peruvian artists and artisans still dye their fabrics of cotton, wool and various blends with only natural ingredients from plants, minerals and beetles. Their traditional methods date from the time of the famous Nazca people of 1,400 years ago. Nazca fabrics were among the finest of their time. Nature's resources were used for dyeing woven fabrics with threads of more than 200 colors. Just take a look at the beautiful colors in these photos originally printed in Archaeology magazine.
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| Burial cloak from the 3rd century B.C. |
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A close-up of the cloak shows animal gods and musicians. |
You may have heard of the mystery of the Nazca lines, southeast of Lima, Peru. They are huge drawings in the earth showing geometrical figures, animals and plants that have captivated researchers of many disciplines. Some have suggested that they were landing strips for UFOs, others explain them as markings of sacred pathways associated with water and fertility. Nazca civilization ended around 350 A.D. after an earthquake and El Nino-related mudslides, but the techniques of their artists are still practiced by their Peruvian descendants today.
