Alum is an ingredient in processes such as dyeing fabric, tanning hides and water purification. Alum is ubiquitous in ancient and medieval times and its use dates back to the Bronze Age.
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Used in tanning or treatment of animal skins, alum also acts as a mordant or binder for natural dyes such as madder, weld and woad. It's popular in skin balm, as water freshener or sewage treatment. Types of alum such as Epsom salts are used for personal health.
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In Mesopotamia, ancient dyers use alum to fix red madder dye to textiles. It's still applied in farmstead or hand dyeing today. Known as allaharum, the salts are imported from Egypt to Mesopotamia lands with industrial levels of trade dating back to c. 2000 BCE.
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The ancient Egyptians are fond of blue. Cobalt alums from the Western Oases of Egypt yield deep blue glazes and glass. Other beautiful blues in Egyptian trade and commerce include lapis lazuli, turquoise, blue faience and Egyptian blue.
Alum leather refers to leather produced by a tawing treatment method using aluminum salts, mainly sodium or potassium aluminum sulfate. Tawing, a process in which tannins are not used, also helps enhance the leather's resistance to bacteria, mold, and mildew.
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The process of tawing applies aluminum salts, usually with other ingredients such as egg yolk, flour or salt. Animal brains can be used (called braining) due to the conditioning action of fat and lecithin. For the brainless, egg yolks have similar components.
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Today alum is used in depilatory waxes for the removal of body hair. It's also a demulcent, soothing irritation and inflammation on freshly waxed skin.
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To taste, most alums are astringent or acidic. Colorless and odorless, alums create a white crystalline powder. The name of the potassium mineral kalinate comes from Arabic al-qalyah or plant ashes. Kalium is the Latin term, giving potassium its chemical symbol, K.
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Alum can refer to a type of natural chemical compound such as sulfate salt, or is a general name for similar compounds or salts. The alums are a group of chemical compounds made of hydrated sulfate salts of aluminum and usually one other metal.
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Without an identifier, alum usually means potassium alum. Other alums include sodium and ammonium alum, named after their specific ions. The name "alum" is also broadly used for salts with the same basic formula and structure.
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In some compounds, aluminum is replaced by another metal ion like chromium, and/or sulfur is replaced by another mineral like selenium. The most common of these is chrome alum, used in hide tanning since c. 1840 CE. Tanning itself goes back to c. 7000 BCE.
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The western desert of Egypt is a primary source of alum substitutes in ancient times. These evaporites can be found in such geological features as caverns or dry sea beds. They include:
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1. Halotrichite, also known as feather alum, is a highly hydrated sulfate of aluminum and iron. Its chemical formula is FeAl2(SO4)4·22H2O. It forms fibrous, water-soluble crystals.
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2. Pickeringite is a magnesium aluminum sulfate mineral with formula MgAl2(SO4)4·22(H2O). In organic chemistry pickeringite forms a series or sequence of compounds with halotrichite. It's also found as an alteration product of pyrite, in aluminum-rich rocks or coal seams.
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3. Tamarugite is a colorless sulfate mineral with the formula NaAl(SO4)2·6H2O. Deposits of tamarugite are found on all seven continents. The mineral's name comes from Tamarugal Pampa locality in Chile. It's also called lapparentite.
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4. Epsomite, Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate heptahydrate) is a magnesium sulfate mineral with formula MgSO4·7H2O. Epsomite most commonly forms as massive encrustations in limestone caverns.
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5. Aluminum Sulfate, with chemical formula Al2(SO4)3·17H2O, is an odorless, white or colorless crystalline solid. It's used for water purification, tanning hides, sewage treatment, and making paper.
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Ancient Greek historian Herodotus mentions Egyptian alum as a valuable commodity. The production of potassium alum from alunite is archaeologically attested on the island Lesbos.
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Pliny the Elder describes the substance alumen in his Natural History. His description matches the account of stypteria (the Greek word for alum) by first-century physician Dioscorides.
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Pliny says a form of alumen (potassium sulfate), which he calls salsugoterrae, is found naturally in the earth. He affirms different substances are known as alumen, and that all are astringent and used in dyeing and medicine.
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