People, while it is fine to include the text of what you are commenting on,
please do not include the headers (the messages that tell where the
software is to send the message).
 
>Date:         Sun, 5 Oct 1997 14:45:10 +0000
>Reply-To: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]>
>Sender: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY <[log in to unmask]>
>Comments:     Authenticated sender is <[log in to unmask]>
>From: [log in to unmask]
>Subject:      cochineal distribution and history of use
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>To date, the cochineal insect query I posed yesterday have produced
>some useful information that I would like to summarize for those who
>might be interested.  Thank you for your response.
>
>The cochineal is a bright red dye or stain made by drying and
>pulverizing the bodies of the females of the small, tropical
>American scale insect, 'Dactylopius coccus', that feeds on certain
>species of cacti, including prickly pear cactus, and can be found in
>in the clumps of white fuzz that it produces on the surface of
>cacti.
>
>I have been informed (at least on an informal basis, thanks to the
>HISTARCH-L folks -- I. Waynne Cox, Brian W. Kenny, Frank Kohout,
>Susan L Shaffer Nahmias, Gail Ryser) that the cochineal occurs in
>southern Texas and Arizona, and also as far south as Peru, where it
>is known to have been utilized during prehistoric times for dying
>textiles. Cochineal dye was the Spaniard's third most economically
>important export items from the southern Texas region during colonial
>times, and near the end of that period it was imported to the Canary
>Islands for cultivation; prior to that time, export of the insect was
>forbidden, but it was allowed once the Spanish thought they might
>lose their New World holdings. The cochineal dye was used to dye wool
>that Navajo weavers got from the Spanish and then unravelled, respun
>and wove into their textiles.
>
>The cochineal insect (female) still is used to produce red-dye stains
>for biological research, and it may have been used extensively to
>produce red dye for Persian rugs.
>
>My equating cochineal with murex was incorrect [the following
>information comes from Frank Kohout].  Murex is a salt-water mussel
>whose shell is used to produce a royal purple dye.  In ancient times
>the Phoenicians were the main producers of murex purple in the
>Mediterranean area, and their name even derives from the Greek word
>[phoinkeos] for purple/red, the shades of which the Greeks apparently
>did not distinguish with different words.
>
>There are at least a couple of articles that deal with the cochineal
>(I haven't yet made it to the library to read them):
>
>Fleming, Stuart
>1983 "The Tale of the Cochineal: Insect Farming in the New
>World," Science Scope, _Archaeology_, Vol 36, No 5, Sept/Oct,
>pp.68-79.
>
>According to Waynne Cox, Fleming's article makes a point that the
>cultivation of the bugs was about the only industry that the Spanish
>left in the hands of the natives, implying that they had been doing
>it for a long time before their arrival.
>
>Eisner, T., S. Nowicki,M. Goetz and J.Meinwald
>"Red cochineal dye [carminic acid]: its role in nature,"_Science_
>[208]: 1039-42.
>
>A.J. Taylor
>Tempe, AZ
>
>
 
Anita Cohen-Williams
Listowner of HISTARCH, SUB-ARCH, and SPANBORD
Co-listowner/manager of ANTHRO-L
Contributing Editor, Anthropology, Suite101 <http://www.suite101.com>
[log in to unmask]