unknown, but perhaps local plant source) were attached to the bronze
beltfittings. Lipid analysis of the soil samples shows the presence of
vegetable matter, which the author considers to have been used for
curing the leather. The results demonstrate that the technology of leather
production was of a high standard for the time (the tomb was dated by
finds to between the eighth and seventh centuriesbc). The deceased was
laid out with a quite exceptional level of luxury and symbolic references
for a period several centuries before any form of kingship has been
recognized historically in the region.
Among the successors of this élite individual was the incumbent of a
tumulus burial at Malomirovo-Zlatinitsa, in south-eastern Bulgaria,
which is still undergoing investigation.^126 A fur strip made from lamb’s
hide was used to line the helmet from Zlatinitsa. This was dyed with
alizarin (madder lake, or madder on a white substrate) and indigo, using
vegetable extracts. A piece of purple fabric was also recovered, perhaps
coloured using a combination of dyes (some purple from shell-fish, and
some vegetable dye, such as madder). The fact that the leather had
survived despite some evidence of degeneration shows, according to
the author, that the curing process was achieved using tannins, perhaps
from a combination of vegetable sources, such as acacia, oak, chestnut
and other kinds of bark.^127 Lamb’s hide is considered to be especially
suitable for caps. In this case, red dye was infusedfirst, followed by the
indigo, to give a purplish colour. Besides the lamb’s hide, someà jour
fragments of leather with impressed decoration were also recovered. One
large fragment had been tanned using vegetable tannin. In addition, a
fragment of textile with some silk weft threads and showing whitefigures
on a purple ground was recovered from a bronze basin. Some threads of
Mediterranean purple dye, derived frommurex trunculus,murex bran-
daris, or a similar source, were also detected.^128 Thesefindings indicate
that we can be much more confident about assigning tanning methods to
the north Aegean region in the fourth centurybc, if not earlier.
The culture of creativity in the north AegeanClose study of the activities that communities of the north Aegean chose
to prioritize and specialize in during the second half of thefirst millen-
niumbcreveals patterns in part shaped by specialization within the
region since the Neolithic period (particularly in terms of the long co-
(^126) Agre 2006, 139–42 and pls1–5. (^127) Nikolova 2007a, 184,figs 1–7.
(^128) Nikolova 2007b; Nikolova 2010,figs 1–8.
190 Thelongue duréein the north Aegean