New study shows people used natural dyes to color their clothing thousands of years ago
(PHYSorg.com Archaeology & Fossils)

Even thousands of years ago, people wore clothing with colourful patterns made from plant and animal-based dyes. Chemists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have created new analytical methods to examine textiles from China and Peru that are several thousand years old. In the scientific journal Scientific Reports, they describe the new method, which can reconstruct the spatial distribution of dyes, and hence the patterns, in textile samples.