Scientists have found out why red is considered one of the most powerful. It turns out that even our ancestors revered this color. In our time, as in the days of our ancestors, red is associated with health.
Red has a dominant place in the modern world of color. And this is largely due to the events that happened many thousands of years ago. One of the earliest observed human activities was the decorative use of flowers.
Scientists at the excavation of Neolithic burial grounds discovered jars filled with dried insects, the so-called kermes, which were used as a textile dye of bright red color.
Another insect, Cochineal, was used to extract the red dye. The colonialists of the New World sent thousands of tons of these insects to the Atlantic Ocean. In trade, this dye in its deficit and cost was equal to silver. Cochineal was also used as a food coloring.
The New World was also a source of vegetable red dyes. Some species of sequoia were used by ancestors to extract red dye. This vegetable dye was called cesalpinia. Europe imported most of its cesalpinium from Southeast Asia.
In Europe, the indigenous red plant paint was madder, which was highly prized until the mid-19th century. The earliest surviving evidence of red dyes for decorative effect has survived to this day. The rocks, painted red, date back tens of thousands of years BC and apparently had ritual significance as they were incorporated into burial practices.
A hint of the meaning of red is found in the name of the red iron ore or "blood-stone". The ancient Greeks smeared their bodies with dye from this stone before going into battle, supposedly to stop the flow of blood. This is ironic, since the red iron ore was also a source of iron, a metal that caused bloodshed.
Red is the color most closely associated with power and danger; it is what works for you and what can work against you.
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Anna Alexandrova