Blue skin people

[third_eye 52,048]

@kmt

you're analysing this as an egyptologist and with the too scientific scalpel

blue is difficult and rare when "compared" to the other colors being strictly mineral and is a highly prized "secret" process for a long time especially in terms of dyeing, as a color pigment it is also very expensive when "compared" to the other colors (from plants) because it is only achieved from ores and usually involves some form of "chemical" and "alchemy" in processing it, making the tint last as "blue" is also part of the mystery of the color as obvious "discoloration" and changes to the tint/tone is most easily detected by the human eye.

@mangoze

I've been told that blue is used, in Indian art, to represent darker skin.

also true in a sense that the media available then were restrictive as wide ranges of tints weren't available.

so the only way to make one darker from one that is already "dark" one simply uses another tone instead in order to avoid ending with a "shadow" of a figure, white and black didn't have the kind of "contrast" we're so used to today

[The_Spartan 631]

there are genetic causes also for blue coloration..for example a whole family..Blue Fugates have a genetic condition known as Methemoglobinemia

Another web page about the Blue Fugates

[lightly 8,734]

*woops, Spartan beat me to it.......

Some people really are blue. .. some are even born purplish. The condition can be caused by interbreeding.. so, maybe some royals really were "bluebloods".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methemoglobinemia

Methemoglobinemia is a disorder characterized by the presence of a higher than normal level of methemoglobin (metHb) in the blood. Methemoglobin is an oxidized form of hemoglobin that has an increased affinity for oxygen, resulting in a reduced ability to release oxygen to tissues. The oxygen–haemoglobin dissociation curve is shifted to the left. When methemoglobin concentration is elevated in red blood cells, tissue hypoxia can occur.

Congenital methemoglobinemia

Due to a deficiency of the enzyme diaphorase I (NADH methemoglobin reductase), methemoglobin levels rise and the blood of met-Hb patients has reduced oxygen-carrying capacity. Instead of being red in color, the arterial blood of met-Hb patients is brown. This results in the skin of Caucasian patients gaining a bluish hue. Hereditary met-Hb is caused by a recessive gene. If only one parent has this gene, offspring will have normal-hued skin, but if both parents carry the gene there is a chance the offspring will have blue-hued skin.

http://www.indiana.edu/~oso/lessons/Blues/TheBlues.htm

THE BLUE PEOPLE OF TROUBLESOME CREEK

The story of an Appalachian malady, an inquisitive doctor, and a paradoxical cure.

by Cathy Trost

©Science 82, November, 1982

Six generations after a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek with his redheaded American bride, his great-great-great great grandson was born in a modern hospital not far from where the creek still runs.

The boy inherited his father's lankiness and his mother's slightly nasal way of speaking.

What he got from Martin Fugate was dark blue skin. "It was almost purple," his father recalls.

http://www.enotes.com/science-fact-finder/health-medicine/who-were-blue-people-appalachia

Fugate's family suffered from the condition because of excessive inbreeding

Edited February 27, 2011 by lightly

[Oniomancer 2,917]

@kmt

you're analysing this as an egyptologist and with the too scientific scalpel

blue is difficult and rare when "compared" to the other colors being strictly mineral and is a highly prized "secret" process for a long time especially in terms of dyeing, as a color pigment it is also very expensive when "compared" to the other colors (from plants) because it is only achieved from ores and usually involves some form of "chemical" and "alchemy" in processing it, making the tint last as "blue" is also part of the mystery of the color as obvious "discoloration" and changes to the tint/tone is most easily detected by the human eye.

As paints, yes. As dyestuff, blue has always been readily available from several plant sources worldwide since antiquity, indigo, wild indigo, dyer's knotweed and woad. There's some question though how well some of these were suited for use as body decoration. This is using formulas intended for cloths dying however. It's possible other recipes have been lost to the ages. Scientists for example have only recently cracked the secret of the extremely durable Maya blue pigment through chemical analysis:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226162953.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Blue

Kmt, I see some of your folks were in on this.

[third_eye 52,048]

As paints, yes. As dyestuff, blue has always been readily available from several plant sources worldwide since antiquity, indigo, wild indigo, dyer's knotweed and woad. There's some question though how well some of these were suited for use as body decoration. This is using formulas intended for cloths dying however. It's possible other recipes have been lost to the ages. Scientists for example have only recently cracked the secret of the extremely durable Maya blue pigment through chemical analysis:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080226162953.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Blue

Kmt, I see some of your folks were in on this.

thanks a bundle there great O

ScienceDaily (Nov. 19, 2009) — An accidental discovery in a laboratory at Oregon State University has apparently solved a quest that over thousands of years has absorbed the energies of ancient Egyptians, the Han dynasty in China, Mayan cultures and more -- the creation of a near-perfect blue pigment.

It never ceases to amaze me when the knowledge of the old ancient ones are revealed to modern minds

great links

[UFO_Monster 374]

[danielost 8,881]

@ShadowSot

Ptah is green? Why did Egyptians painted blue?

Also there are people with "yellow" and "red" skins.

@JGIRL

My favourite cartoon as a kid.

due to a genetic defect there are also people with blue blood, which gives their skin a blue hue.

[Big Bad Voodoo 1,345]

New Pharaonic artefacts discovered in North Egypt's site of San El-Hagar

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/15101/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/New-Pharaonic-artefacts-discovered-in-North-Egypts.aspx

[Abramelin 5,000]

Paul Karason

I thought this skin condition was caused by ingesting some colloidal silver solution for a long time (for therapeutical purposes).

++++

EDIT:

Yes, it is, and it's called 'argyria' : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria

.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Abramelin

[Blues Girl 15]

Just so that everyone knows, the Egyptians would use blue to symbolize the departed, or dead, spirit. Nothing really special to it, other than to distinguish between a living person and a dead spirit on their wall art

[Abramelin 5,000]

due to a genetic defect there are also people with blue blood, which gives their skin a blue hue.

Yeah:

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kyperry3/Blue_Fugates_Troublesome_Creek.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methemoglobinemia

And some families, certainly royal families of more ancient times, interbred with eachother,ans so this genetic defect could live on in more generations.

[Abramelin 5,000]

Just so that everyone knows, the Egyptians would use blue to symbolize the departed, or dead, spirit. Nothing really special to it, other than to distinguish between a living person and a dead spirit on their wall art

But -L- not only posted Egyptian images, but also images from other cultures.

I don't think blue was only used to depict dead people the world over.

Blue may have stood for either 'godlike', royal, departed, dead, rage, and so on.

So you have 'blue people' the world over, but with totally different reasons for being depicted that way.

[Blues Girl 15]

But -L- not only posted Egyptian images, but also images from other cultures.

I don't think blue was only used to depict dead people the world over.

Blue may have stood for either 'godlike', royal, departed, dead, rage, and so on.

So you have 'blue people' the world over, but with totally different reasons for being depicted that way.

I know. That's why I only mentioned the Egyptians because I was explaining their use of blue, not other cultures use of it

[Abramelin 5,000]

I know. That's why I only mentioned the Egyptians because I was explaining their use of blue, not other cultures use of it

Oh well, I just found out that what I posted has already been posted.

Anyway, I don't think it has anything to do with Atlantis, lol.

[Blackwhite 8]

The Ancient British used to wear blue paint, made of woad, on their bodies.

They also used to make their hair really spiky by making a "hair gel" of lime.

The Romans, when they first arrived in Britain, were really taken aback, seeing these people with blue skin with what look like echidnas on their heads walking around.

There is a joke told by some people - probably mainly historians and archaeologists - in Colchester, Essex.

The town, which claims to be Britain's oldest, was the Roman town of Camulodunum at the time Britain was part of the Roman Empire. In the year 60, Queen Boudicca of the Iceni of what is now Norfolk, enraged at the Romans for them killing her husband and raping her two daughters, attacked Camulodunum and burnt it to the ground. The Romans built a temple there in 43 dedicated to the Emperor Claudius and many people hid in this temple during the sacking of the town. The British besiegd the temple for two days before burning it to the ground killing everyone inside.

The joke today in Colchester is that the Boudiccan Revolt is the first recorded instance of woad rage.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Blackwhite

[kmt_sesh 36,497]

The Ancient British used to wear blue paint, made of woad, on their bodies.

They also used to make their hair really spiky by making a "hair gel" of lime.

The Romans, when they first arrived in Britain, were really taken aback, seeing these people with blue skin with what look like echidnas on their heads walking around.

There is a joke told by some people - probably mainly historians and archaeologists - in Colchester, Essex.

The town, which claims to be Britain's oldest, was the Roman town of Camulodunum at the time Britain was part of the Roman Empire. In the year 60, Queen Boudicca of the Iceni of what is now Norfolk, enraged at the Romans for them killing her husband and raping her two daughters, attacked Camulodunum and burnt it to the ground. The Romans built a temple there in 43 dedicated to the Emperor Claudius and many people hid in this temple during the sacking of the town. The British besiegd the temple for two days before burning it to the ground killing everyone inside.

The joke today in Colchester is that the Boudiccan Revolt is the first recorded instance of woad rage.

Careful, Blackwhite, or you're going to make us laugh till we're blue in the face.

Ha! Get it? Blue in the face? Never mind.

[Solipsi Rai 1,106]

Yes...they do exist. A rarity in what makes humanity quite a diverse lot, but I don't care about people with blue skin as well.

Speaking of the "Blue" people, how about this 1990's pop-dance hit titled "Blue" from Italian band Eiffel 65.

My cat's name happens to be "Bleu" the French spelling, since he's a Persian blue my wife found in the county animal shelter.