ABSTRACT
In the prehistoric period, cavemen used paint for decoration and communication. They used blood, milk, egg, or tree saps (all are natural polymers) as binder, mixed with ashes (charcoal) and minerals (natural metal oxides) as pigments. Some cave paintings survive even today, proof of the remarkable durability of the paints. Noah used pitch to waterproof his ark around 4000 B.C Egyptians and Greeks painted their statues (hair, eyes, and lips) ca. 3000-600 B.C The Chinese and the Japanese developed ink and lacquer before 1000 B.C for painting art and wooden objects. Slowly, the ancients applied paints to their ships, utensils, weapons, mummies, temples, and palaces for decoration and protection. In the mid-18th century, in England, the industrial revolution created an increased demand for paints. It marked the beginning of the modern paint and pigment industry (Morgan, 1990).
