Pigments and colours: An inside look at the painted decoration of the Macedonian funerary monuments

In the course of this study, the information obtained through the analysis and the review of the literature has revealed the pigments employed in the painted decoration of eighteen funeral monuments. The mainly inorganic colouring materials vary from natural, such as hematite and goethite, calcite and carbon black, to the synthetic Egyptian blue. The coloured arsenal employed by the ancient painters is further enriched by other minerals, such as the red cinnabar and realgar, as well as an arsenic based yellow pigment. Green earth was also used, despite the availability of copper based green minerals. Lastly, the presence of Egyptian blue in the monuments has provided invaluable information regarding the spatial distribution of the pigment and allowed a further comprehension of the decorative motifs.