On the history of madder (Rubia peregrina L., and Rubia tinctorum L.) in pre-modern Iran and the Caucasus

Abstract

For roughly four thousand years the pulverized roots of both wild (Rubia peregrina L.) and cultivated (Rubia tinctorum L.) madder have been used in Asia, North Africa and Europe as a red dye. Madder’s original, natural habitat extended from Iran to the Mediterranean and madder roots were gathered, processed and used long before the plant was systematically cultivated. Although the red dye derived from madder was put to various uses, the dyeing of fibres for use in textiles and carpets was the primary one, and is first attested c. 2000 BC in Mesopotamian cuneiform sources. In Iran madder’s use can be traced from late Antiquity to the modern era, and may have begun as early as the 1st millennium BC. In the 19th century demand for madder in India and Russia was great, spurring large investment in madder cultivation as a cash crop, both in Iran and in the Caucasus. Documents are presented which provide detailed accounts of both madder cultivation and the processing of the roots for the production of dyestuff. The introduction of synthetic dyes in the 1870s largely eradicated the market for madder-based dye in Eurasia and had a profound impact on the carpet industry, in particular.

Plant-based red colouration of shell beads 15,000 years ago in Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel (Israel)

“…Could a genomic analysis of Natufian Rubiaceae shed light on the history of Madder domestication? On a different aspect, the aerial parts of the wild madder, stems and leaves, have long been and are still used today in the traditional medicine of many cultures [ 11 , 59 , 82 , 83 ] for their aphrodisiac, antibacterial, anti-oxidant, iron-rich properties, demonstrated through recent pharmaceutical studies [ 84 ]. If indeed we will be able to expand the research in an endeavour to recover such findings through the study of other artefacts (e.g., groundstone vessels and tools), then we will enrich our knowledge of the Natufian culture and its practices in new, currently understudied, domains of existence.…”

“…Today, this family of perennial plants is represented in the southern Levant and Mount Carmel by the domesticated common madder ( Rubia tinctorum L.) [ 55 ] and the wild slender-leaved madder ( Rubia tenuifolia L.) [ 56 ] with alizarin as the main anthraquinone isolated from their roots [ 57 ]. Wild common madder ( Rubia peregrina L.), with purpurin as the main anthraquinone isolated from its roots [ 58 ], might have also been present in the southern Levant during earlier periods (before madder domestication whose origin has not yet been established) given that its habitat in the wild encompassed the whole Mediterranean basin up to the Caucasus [ 59 , 60 ].…”