Abstract
Man is one of those few creatures who can see the world in color. Almost as far as we are able to trace the presence of man in history and prehistory, we find evidence that he has employed color to adorn his person and his surroundings. Tens of thousands of years ago, Cro-Magnon created cave paintings using the colors of minerals as pigments, and before him, the Neanderthal painted the bones of the dead with red mineral pigment. In the ancient world, colored stones and minerals were used in jewelry, in the decoration of buildings, and as coloring agents in glasses and enamels.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Gunnell E. M. 1939. Historical notes — mineral luminescence. The Mineralogist 7 (3): 75–76.
Gunnell E. M. 1939. Bibliography of mineral luminescence. The Mineralogist 7 (3): 81–83, 135.
Harvey E. N. 1957. A History of Luminescence. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
Kunz G. F. and Baskerville C. 1903. The action of radium, roentgen rays and the untra-violet light on minerals and gems. Science 18 (468): 669–783.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1983 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Robbins, M. (1983). Background. In: The Collector’s Book of Fluorescent Minerals. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4792-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4792-8_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-4794-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-4792-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive