The idea that ancient cultures didn't have much of a range of colors available to them is easy to refute. A friend of ours gave us a yarn sampler made up of about 25 different bright or bold colors, from yellow to purple, hunter green to blood red, all done by her with natural dyestuffs and NO dangerous (read: poisonous) mordants. (Mordants set the color in the fabric and make it colorfast. Salt is a common mordant, as were many nasty things in ancient times, like urea.)
Granted, I can't say how these transfer as tattoo ink colors, but I do know that idiots in prison make ink out of soot and piss. Ugh. Yes, there's a limited color range.
About the most difficult dye color to get is that fantasy staple, black. Purple is usually very expensive, hence its reservation by senators, kings and emperors for their exclusive use.
Mike
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