Asphalt, also referred to as bitumen, is a typical example of a colour of which the historical name has remained, but that – fortunately – has not been made of real asphalt for a long time now. The history of this colour is somewhat sinister. Up until the beginning of the twentieth century one way of obtaining the brownish black pigment was by grinding down Egyptian mummies. It wasn’t until the early twentieth century that an alternative was developed, and mummies and natural asphalt gave way to a brownish black based on modern and highly reliable pigments.