New Evidence of the Purple‐Dye Industry at Tel Shiqmona, Israel

Sukenik, Naama; Iluz, David; Amar, Zohar; Varvak, Alexander; Bar, Shay

doi:10.1111/arcm.12290

Cited by 28 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Minoan (Crete) [49] Hurrian (Chagar Bazar, Qatna) [47,48] Phoenician [76][77][78][79][80][81] Phoenician-Punic [82] Submycenaean/Protogeometric (Greek) [83] Orientalising/early Archaic (Etruscan) [84] Archaic (Greek) [85] Persian [46] Classical (Greek) [7,[86][87][88] Hellenistic (Greek & Etruscan) [58,[89][90][91] Jewish [92] Roman [31][32][33][93][94][95][96] Sarmatian [97,98] Coptic-Egyptian [34,97,[99][100][101][102][103][104] Arab (pre-Islamic period) [36] Byzantine [7,30,42] Case Study: Identification of Shellfish Purple in a Hellenistic Textile…”

Section: Provenance Referencementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on the Archaeological Chemistry of Shellfish Purple

Karapanagiotis

2019

Sustainability

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Shellfish purple, also known as Tyrian purple and royal purple, has a long history, which has been revealed and documented in recent years through valid physicochemical studies using sophisticated techniques. The aim of the work was to summarize the conclusions of these studies and to describe the results of two unpublished investigations regarding the (i) identification of shellfish purple in a textile (4th century BCE) from ancient Macedonia and (ii) dramatic effect of the dyeing conditions on the composition of the purple dye. Moreover, a critical discussion is included about the discovery of the shellfish pigment and dye based on the available scientific evidence. Previously published reports describing the identification of the shellfish colorant in objects of the cultural heritage were carefully summarized. Shellfish purple was not used only as colorant, but it served other purposes as emphasized in this review. In particular, examples for the use of shellfish purple in medicine, grave goods and fillers and plasters in walls, were described. Examples of materials and methods that were used in the past to produce “fake” purple, imitating the aesthetic result of the valuable royal marine material were summarized. Finally, the solubility of indigoids was discussed using modern approaches of physical chemistry.

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Section: Provenance Referencementioning

confidence: 99%

A Review on the Archaeological Chemistry of Shellfish Purple

Karapanagiotis

2019

Sustainability

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“…may affect the reported composition of the purple dye [ 10 , 84 , 92 ]. Nevertheless, it is possible to see a clear trend with respect to the ratios of the dye substances in each species [ 27 , 35 , 58 , 61 , 84 , 91 , 93 ], that helps to identify the species of the murex used in the dyeing of the archaeological textiles with a high level of certainty.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The identification of dyes was based on a database containing known chemical components and wool that was dyed with known dyestuffs and analyzed by the authors prior to the current Timna research [ 68 ], and on a series of analyses that were done by the authors in a previous study of wool that was dyed with each of the murex species ( Hexaplex trunculus , Bolinus brandaris and Stramonita haemastoma ), and analyzed under the same conditions as the archaeological samples ([ 58 , 61 ]; S1 Appendix )…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dye remains are found in most cases on the upper part of ceramic basins, on the inside surface, the areas in which the reduced dye-solution was exposed to air, and underwent oxidation that turned it purple [ 19 , 56 ]. Pottery sherds stained with true purple were found in Sarepta in Lebanon— 14 th –13 th centuries BCE [ 57 ], Ugarit (Minet el-Beidha)— 15 th –13 th centuries BCE [ 52 ], Tel Keisan— 11 th century BCE [ 19 ], Tel Shikmona— 10 th –9 th centuries BCE [ 58 ] and Tel Kabri— 7 th century BCE [ 19 ]. These finds indicate the important role of coastal sites in this industry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early evidence of royal purple dyed textile from Timna Valley (Israel)

et al. 2021

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In the context of a broad study aimed at examining dyeing technologies in the Timna textiles collection, three samples of prestigious fibers dyed with murex sea snail were identified. Our identification is based on the presence of 6-monobromoindigotin and 6,6-dibromoindigotin components (detected using HPLC analysis), which is considered unequivocal evidence for the use of murex-derived purple dyestuff. Furthermore, by comparing the analytical results with those obtained in a series of controlled dyeing experiments we were able to shed more light on the specific species used in the dyeing process and glean insights into the ancient dyeing technology. The samples originated from excavations at the extensive Iron Age copper smelting site of “Slaves’ Hill” (Site 34), which is tightly dated by radiocarbon to the late 11th–early 10th centuries BCE. While evidence for the important role of purple dyes in the ancient Mediterranean goes back to the Middle Bronze Age (early 2nd millennium BCE), finds of dyed textiles are extremely rare, and those from Timna are the oldest currently known in the Southern Levant. In conjunction with other observations of the very high quality of the Timna textiles, this provides an exceptional opportunity to address questions related to social stratification and organization of the nomadic society operating the mines (early Edom), the “fashion” of elite in the region during the early Iron Age, trade connections, technological capabilities, and more.

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“…In Sukenik et al . , owing to a typesetting error, Table on page 782 was published with incorrect data.…”

Section: Relative Percent (%) Of Dye Components (Ind/ Mbi/ Dbi/ Dbir)mentioning

confidence: 99%