New Use for Ancient Pigment: Illuminating Fingerprints

A boon to modern forensics comes in the form of an ancient Egyptian Blue pigment whose use dates back to 3200 BCE. The Egyptian Blue pigment absorbs energy from light and reflects it back in the near infrared spectrum of light. The pigment glows brightly, even on difficult surfaces, when illuminated by white light. Simple and easy to use.

This discovery comes from the field of art conservation, where white light is used to detect ancient pigments. Egyptian Blue pigment is recreated with a recipe of copper-containing material, sand and a strong alkaline, which is then heated to 800°C to 900°C. For use in fingerprint detection, the pigment is refined into a much smaller size.

Ancient Egyptian pigment provides modern forensics with newcoat of paint

May 30, 2016 by Ivy Shih, The Conversation