The kermes insect is a primary source of vermilion and crimson from Neolithic times to the Middle Ages. The first red colors of the ancient palette include earth pigments and iron ores, kermes insects, Polish cochineal red and the red madder plant root.
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The early Neolithic palette is black, white and red. Among other sources black comes from soot or charcoal, and white from powered limestone. They commonly appear in prehistoric rock paintings. They're also the first colors detected by infants after birth.
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Reds are bold, the color of blood, passion and life. The extraction of red ochre is known in Africa, dated by archaeologists to the Middle Paleolithic c. 300,000 ya. Red ochre clay rocks are easily found on the earth's surface and along riverbeds.
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In earth reds, colors vary in richness and tone depending on the mix of red iron oxide and other minerals. Red ochres range from orange to brown tones. Hematite is a prominent red iron oxide in clay. As a stone hematite can also be ground into red powder pigment.
Another red rock is cinnabar, used to make a vermilion pigment. Cinnabar is known and used by early people from c. 10,000 BCE. It's a mercury sulfide and naturally toxic. A delight to alchemists in later years, cinnabar is also a good source of mercury poisoning.
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In Mesoamerica, the people make carmine red with crushed bodies of female cochineal insects. A species of sap-sucking scale insect, they feed on certain cactus. In Eurasia, the related kermes insect produces the red shades vermilion or crimson.
About 20 species of kermes insects exist. In Eurasia, the insect producing natural vermilion or crimson red dyes is Kermes vermilio.
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Native to the Mediterranean regions, kermes insects feed on the sap of kermes oak trees (Quercus coccifera) and Palestine oak (Quercus calliprinos). Fertilized females are bright red, yielding the desired dye. In kermes vermilio insects, the dye is simply called kermes.
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The word kermes comes from Turkish qirmiz or kirmizi, meaning crimson. It derives from Persian kermest by way of Proto-Indo-Iranian kŕ̥miš. This in turn comes from Proto-Indo-European kʷŕ̥mis (worm).
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First appearing in English in the 13th century, the word vermilion comes from Old French vermeillon. It's derived from vermeil, originating in the Latin vermiculus, which is the diminutive of Latin vermis or worm.
Kermes vermilio can translate to wormish little worm, though it's not a worm at all. When it first hits the mass market people commonly believe the dye pigment comes from a plant. Traders, guarding their sources, are in no hurry to correct them.
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In ancient times kermes vermilio extract is used as a medicine. It's an astringent for wounds and considered a cure for congestion of the eyes. It's taken in Arabia for heart benefits and in Europe until the 18th century as a cardiac drug.
A person can harvest about 1 kg (2.2 lb) of kermes in a day. The drying process depletes around 2/3 of the harvested weight. Dried bug bodies are traded unprocessed as raw pigment materials.
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As demand grows, certain oaks are cultivated as breeding grounds for the kermes insect. One insect will produce 800 eggs. Experiments in Israel find the richest color comes from fertilized females who haven't yet laid their eggs.
Best harvesting time is June - August. The insects are collected, dried for one week in the shade, and ground to powder. The pigment is then simmered in water, turning the water red. After straining it's ready to use.
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As a fabric dye it's applied to textiles coated with dissolved alum. Alum acts as a mordant or binder and brightens the red-orange color. Darker shades are made by repeating the process several times, allowing the fabric to dry in between.
The kermes pigment and other bug-based colors bond better with animal fibers such as wool and silk than with plant fibers such as linen. In ancient Egypt kermes reds are desired pigments for wall paintings and decor. Artisans are often buried with their paint or pigment.
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Jars of kermes dye have been discovered in a Neolithic cave-burial at Adaouste, northeast of Aix-en-Provence in France. Today it's also a bat sanctuary. Woad, a blue pigment made from the flowers of Isatis tinctoria, is also found at the burial site(s).
Another important red source in Eurasia is the Polish cochineal insect (Porphyrophora polonica, Margarodes polonicus), native to Eastern Europe north of the Black Sea. The female larvae of the cochineal are used to make red from Neolithic to medieval times.
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Harvesting is a lot of work and yield typically low. Still, the Polish cochineal insect is in popular demand and serves an alternative to kermes. Its use is widespread in Europe until the introduction of the Mesoamerican cochineal in the 16th century.
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