Remnants of a rare pigment found in dental tartar of a woman buried around 1,000 years ago at a medieval monastery indicate that she may have been an elite scribe or book painter.
These pigment flecks come from ultramarine, a rare blue pigment made by grinding lapis lazuli stone imported from Afghanistan into powder. The pigment was used to illustrate and decorate religious manuscripts produced during Europe’s Middle Ages, from around 1,600 to 500 years ago.
Read the full article at Science News.