http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/science/people-have-been-dying-fabric-indigo-blue-for-6000-years.html 2016-09-16 19:16:20 People Have Been Dying Fabric Indigo Blue for 6,000 Years Before there were bluejeans there were blue Egyptian mummy cloths. Before blue mummy cloths? Possibly blue offerings to ancient Andean gods. === Indigo and cotton made a fine pair long before bluejeans ever existed. A new In the new study, researchers found traces of blue pigment woven into fabrics from an ancient temple on the north coast of Peru. The dry weather there and the hard, concrete-like material of the temple, located in a prehistoric settlement called Huaca Prieta, preserved the fabrics exceptionally well, said He studied hundreds of textile samples that were found alongside gourds, baskets and mats in the temple. Microscopically examining the fabrics, he found that most had been altered in some way. Often it seemed they had been cut or torn and then had liquid poured over them. Dr. Splitstoser says he thinks the people of Huaca Prieta possibly used the textiles to wrap up offerings to the gods. In addition, Dr. Splitstoser suspects that the fabrics may have been part of an early communication system, which used features like colors and weaving patterns in textiles to encode information. Along with indigo blue, the textiles from Huaca Prieta also featured red, gold, white and tan stripes.