Natural Science in Archaeology

9.6 Lead Compounds 213
especially when in contact with paper and parchment. The result is that it frequently
eats away the page of the manuscripts on which it has been used (Banik 1990).
Chrysocolla. Chrysocolla, CuSiO 3 ·nH 2 O, is a common secondary mineral from
the oxidation zone of copper deposits. It occurs in the Sinai and the Eastern Desert
of Egypt. It was occasionally used in antiquity as a cosmetic for greenish-blue eye
paint (Lucas 1989). In Europe it was exploited from deposits in the Carpathian and
Harz Mountains.
Malachite. Malachite, CuCO 3 ·Cu(OH) 2 , was used commonly for cosmetic purposes
as an eye paint by the ancient Egyptians. Evidence for the use of malachite
exists from the Badarian Predynastic Period until at least the 18th Dynasty (Lucas
1989). There has been some speculation regarding the role malachite may have
played in the development of glazed steatite. Malachite may have been used as an
ingredient in the production of “Egyptian Blue”. The use of malachite as a pigment
spread to Japan in the mid-sixth century CE (Yamasaki and Emoto 1979).
Azurite. Azurite, 2CuCO 3 ·Cu(OH) 2 , has been called “mountain blue” and “copper
blue”. It has poor light-fastness, a marked tendency for the prominent blue to
fade over time, so its use as a pigment has been somewhat limited. It is found in
the Sinai and the Eastern Desert of Egypt. It was used as a paint pigment by the
Egyptians as early as the 4th Dynasty (Lucas 1989). Pliny mentions a blue pigment
from Armenia, probably azurite, which was used “in medicine to give nourishment
to the hair, and especially the eyelashes” (N.H. 35:28). However, “Egyptian Blue”
was favored throughout the Classical Period, and the use of azurite as a pigment
was not widespread in the west until the Middle Ages, when its principal European
source was Hungary (Roy 1993). Azurite has been identified in central China wall
paintings of the Song and Ming dynasties, and on precolumbian kiva murals in the
American Southwest (Roy 1993).
Azurite is also known on Japanese sculpture and wall paintings of the seventh
and eighth centuries CE (Roy 1993). The use of azurite as a pigment also spread to
Japan in the mid-sixth century. However, the use of azurite ceased in Japan between
the ninth and eleventh centuries. The reason for this is not known, but azurite pigment
reappeared in Japan after the twelfth and thirteenth centuries CE (Yamasaki
and Emoto 1979).
9.6 Lead Compounds
Massicot. According to Gettens and Stout (1966), the term “massicot” (PbO) is
sometimes used interchangeably with “litharge”, but structurally they are dimorphs.
Artificial massicot is the unfused monoxide of lead made by roasting white lead.
It also is a fairly soft natural mineral (H = 2) that occurs as an oxidation product of
galena and other lead minerals. Massicot is found in France, Germany, Italy, the
Czech Republic, Romania, and Greece. It is yellow to reddish-yellow.
Litharge. Litharge, PbO, is a “fused and crystalline oxide which is formed from
the direct oxidation of molten metallic lead” (Gettens and Stout 1966). It is more