the Near East, Egypt and Europe and continues to be used today for
enhancing the depth of indigo or woad.^102 Alum (hydrated potassium
aluminium sulphate), which is a clear crystal refined from bauxite and a
far rarer mineral than limestone, is nevertheless known in the region. In
parts of the Mediterranean alum was used as a mordant for textiles, as
well as an agent forfinishing skins. In medieval times it was also used in
the tanning of leather, but Pliny does not refer to it in that context, and
alum has rarely been directly identified as a tanning agent in classical
antiquity.^103 So the extent to which alum was used in the north Aegean,
whether forfixing the colours of textiles, or in allied applications, is
uncertain. The many colours used in textiles as they are represented in
wall paintings, particularly the bright reds, orange, blue, green, and
purple, would have needed a chemical mordant. Pliny (NH35.184) and
Dioscorides (de materia medica5.106) both include Macedonia as a
source of alum. Possible sources have not been identified, with the
exception of Kypsela, which, though technically not in Macedonia, was
referred to by Balducci Pegolatti in his treatise,La pratica della merca-
tura, of 1340. The traveller Pierre Belon visited the region and also
referred to alum at Kypsela in ancient Thrace (1547). The solid geology
of the region around Kypsela, where the presence of dacites, andesites,
and ophiolithic rocks is recorded, suggests that the deposits close to the
ancient city may well have been a source of the mineral in classical
antiquity.^104 Pliny’s reference to Macedonia nevertheless points to
some degree of ancient exploitation, whether at Kypsela or at another,
as yet unknown location.
Pastoral regimes in the northern AegeanAnimals, as two of the editors remind us in a recent volume of essays on
the use and re-use of animal bones in historical settlements, are often
both‘meal and symbol, related to everyday practice and ritual’.^105
Animals and humans have such a long history of interaction that we
are prone to forget, in our increasingly urbanized societies, just how close
this relationship has been, even in the very recent past. During the last(^102) Barber 1991, 237–43.
(^103) Alum (KAl (SO 4 ) 2 12H 2 O) as a mordant:‘In Cypro candidum et nigrius; exigua
coloris differentia, cum sit usus magna, quoniam inficiendis claro colore lanis candidum
liquidumque utilissimum est contraque fusissant obscuris nigrum’(Pliny,NH35.184); Van
Driel-Murray 2002, 260; Van Driel-Murray 2008, 485. 104
Karadima-Matsa et al. 2005, 71 and 74fig. 2.
(^105) J. Lev-Tov and S. DeFrance in Campana et al., 2010, x.
Thelongue duréein the north Aegean 181