# Purple dye production at Kition Bamboula

Sabine Fourrier, Nicolas Garnier, Anna Georgiadou, Artemis Georgiou

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Sabine Fourrier, Nicolas Garnier, Anna Georgiadou, Artemis Georgiou. Purple dye production at Kition Bamboula. D. Mylona; T.M. Brogan; M. Eaby; M. Iacovou. The materiality of purple dye production and use in Cyprus and the Aegean from Prehistory to Late Roman period, Presses universitaires de Louvain, p. 83-100, 2025, 978-2-39061-578-1. hal-05079453

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30

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PORPHYRA

The Materiality of Purple Dye Production
and Use in Cyprus and the Aegean
from Prehistory to the Late Roman Period

Edited by Dimitra Mylona, Thomas M. Brogan,
Melissa Eaby and Maria Iacovou
PORPHYRA

The Materiality of Purple Dye Production and Use in Cyprus and
the Aegean from Prehistory to the Late Roman Period
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>
PORPHYRA

# The Materiality of Purple Dye Production and Use in Cyprus and the Aegean from Prehistory to the Late Roman Period

Edited by D. Mylona, T.M. Brogan, M. Eaby and M. Iacovou

PUL PRESSES
UNIVERSITAIRES
DE LOUVAIN
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UCLouvain

© Presses universitaires de Louvain, 2025

Registration of copyright: D/2025/9964/15

ISBN: 978-2-39061-578-1

ISBN PDF version: 978-2-39061-579-8

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Cover design: Hélène Grégoire

Cover Image: *Murex trunculus* print, 19th century, *Iconographia Zoologica* - Special Collections

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# Contents

1. The Materiality of Purple Dye Production and Use 1

An introduction

Thomas M. Brogan

Melissa Eaby

Maria Iacovou

Dimitra Mylona

2. Unravelling Purple Dye Production in the Bronze Age Aegean 5

An archaeomalacological perspective on its chaîne opératoire

Rena Veropoulidou

3. Bronze Age Purple Dye Production on Chryssi Island 21

Thomas M. Brogan

Dimitra Mylona

Chrysa Sofianou

Vili Apostolakou

Melissa Eaby

Philip P. Betancourt

4. Purple Dye and Byssus on Late Bronze Age Aegina 41

A preliminary report

Lydia Berger

Gerhard Forstenpointner

Peter Frühauf

Fabian Kanz

5. How to Identify a Purple Dye Workshop 57

The case of Protopalatial Mochlos

Dimitra Mylona

Jeffrey S. Soles

Chrysa Sofianou

6. Late Bronze Age Purple Dye at Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus 67

Peter M. Fischer

Teresa Bürge

7. Purple Dye Production at Kition Bamboula 83

Evidence from the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age transition

Sabine Fourrier

Nicolas Garnier

Anna Georgiadou

Artemis Georgiou
<table><tr><td>8.</td><td>By-Products of the Purple Dye Industry<br/>The evidence from Paphos in the 4th century BCE<br/>Dimitra Mylona<br/>Maria Iacovou</td><td>101</td></tr><tr><td>9.</td><td>A Roman Purple Dye Workshop at Chania, Crete<br/>Challenges of interpretation<br/>Aggeliki Tsigkou</td><td>123</td></tr><tr><td>10.</td><td>The Archaeology of Purple Dye Production<br/>State of research, pitfalls, and lessons for the future<br/>Dimitra Mylona</td><td>133</td></tr><tr><td>11.</td><td>Shellfish Purple Colour in the East Mediterranean<br/>A gazetteer of sites<br/>David S. Reese</td><td>147</td></tr></table>
# 7. Purple Dye Production at Kition Bamboula

## Evidence from the Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age transition

Sabine Fourrier

Nicolas Garnier

Anna Georgiadou

Artemis Georgiou<fnref n="1" />

### 1. Site and context

Sometimes incorrectly described in the archaeological literature as the ‘acropolis’ of ancient Kition (Yon 2002), the site of Bamboula is located within the modern city of Larnaca, just north of the District Archaeological Museum. Excavations undertaken by the French Archaeological Mission, under the supervision of Marguerite Yon, revealed several complexes which date from the Cypro-Geometric to the Hellenistic period. This work helped clarify the ancient topography of the area, notably the location and extent of the ancient harbour. In the Cypro-Classical period, the natural basin accommodated the shipsheds (neosoikoi) of the city’s military fleet (Callot et al. 2022) (Fig. 7.1).

During the first two excavation seasons in 1976-1977, the French Mission opened a trial trench on the north side of the excavation plot, cutting into the slope leading to the western shore of the basin. The results were promptly published (Yon & Caubet 1985) and the site was interpreted thus: the uppermost levels, just below the modern surface, were considered to belong to an Early Iron Age settlement dated to the 11th century BCE. In the eastern part of the trench, a pebble layer consisting of mixed material dating to the Late Bronze Age (13th century BCE) was interpreted as a coeval deposit that had been looted from earlier tombs and placed against the inner face of the city rampart. No stones remained of the rampart, and it was assumed that the wall had been dismantled in later periods.

Excavation resumed in the same area in 2016-2018 (with an additional fieldwork season in 2021), and the new finds prompted a revision of the earlier interpretation. Again, no traces of a city wall were recovered; instead, digging revealed a continuous series of floor layers belonging to a settlement dating from the 13th (on the natural substratum) to the 11th century BCE. The results thus refute the hypothesis that a rampart ever stood there. Remains of later occupations (down to the Hellenistic period) were poorly preserved due to modern terracing in the area. As a result, it now appears that the earliest habitation at Bamboula is roughly contemporary with the foundation of the city of Kition. Following the study of the associated pottery by Anna Georgiadou, the date of the 11th century settlement was slightly revised to the late 12th - early 11th century BCE. This period marks the very beginning of the Late Cypriot IIIB, that is the inception of the Early Iron Age on Cyprus. During the Late Bronze-Early Iron Age, a settlement thus stood on the western shore of the harbour basin without being protected by a city-wall (at least on the seaward side).

The Late Cypriot IIIA-IIIB settlement was heavily ruined. This is particularly evident to the west, where early strata were disturbed by pits and other features of later occupation down to the Hellenistic period, and to the east where archaeological remains were removed almost down to the substratum by modern terracing works. The excavated portion of the settlement is comprised of two units separated by an open space that probably served

<footnote n="1">1 Fourrier, Sabine, Laboratoire HiSoMA, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, Lyon, France, sabine.fourrier@mom.fr
Garnier, Nicolas, Laboratoire N. Garnier UMR 8546 AOROC, Archéologie & Philologie d'Orient et d'Occident, École Normale Supérieure de Paris, France, labo.nicolasgarnier@free.fr
Georgiadou, Anna, Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, georgiadou.anna@ucy.ac.cy
Georgiou, Artemis, Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus, georgiou.artemis@ucy.ac.cy
The authors would like to thank the editors D. Mylona, T. Brogan, M. Iacovou and M. Eaby for the invitation to contribute to this volume dedicated to murex purple dye. The French mission at Kition is co-funded by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and the HiSoMA (Histoire et Sources des Mondes Antiques) research centre (CNRS and Université Lyon 2), with logistical support from the French School at Athens. This study was conducted within the framework of the ANR-DFG project KIT (2022-2025).</footnote>
as a street (Fig. 7.2). The walls of the rooms were made of irregular stones and pebbles supporting a mudbrick superstructure; the floors were made of clay. Pottery sherds with purple stains were retrieved to the south of the northern habitation unit, the vast majority from a space interpreted as a street. They provide indisputable evidence for dyeing with purple.

<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.1 AERIAL VIEW OF THE SITE OF KITION BAMBOULA (A. RABOT)</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_8.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.2 THE SETTLEMENT OF THE LATE 12TH–EARLY 11TH CENTURY BCE (A. RABOT). THE RED STARS CORRESPOND TO THE FIND SPOTS OF THE PURPLE-DYE VESSEL FRAGMENTS</figcaption></figure>

As many as 60 fragments preserving purple stains on their interior surfaces belong to the same, large vessel, identified as a pithoid jar (K18-516). Apart from an isolated sherd recovered in a pit of later date (Stratigraphic Unit [SU] S10-101) located in the southern habitation unit, the other fragments were recovered in secondary contexts of fill beneath the street. These include isolated fragments in SUs S10-144, S10-220 and S10-320 and concentrations in S10-221 and S10-227, with 19 and 36 fragments respectively (see also Georgiadou & Georgiou 2019: 108-110, where the mention of SU S10-210 should be replaced by S10-221; Fourier *et al.* 2023). The associated material in all these units dates to the late 12th – early 11th century BCE, which is contemporary with the habitation layers in the adjacent buildings. The stratigraphic context of the vessel, in a fill supporting the floor and not on the floor of the street, thus provides a *terminus ante quem* for its use during or before the late 12th – early 11th century BCE horizon. We found no direct evidence for the exact location of purple dye production within the Early Iron Age settlement. The container and its precious content can therefore have been transported from another location, in Kition or elsewhere. Alternatively, the fragmentary state of the vessel (represented by a large portion of the body, with no neck and base fragments preserved) and its presence amongst discarded material reused to support a floor level may suggest that it was part of a dismantled installation. It is worth mentioning that a hearth was excavated in 2021 in the western room of the northern habitation unit, immediately to the north of the street where the purple-stained sherds were found (Fig. 7.3).
<figure><img src="image_9.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.3 THE LATE CYPRIOT IIIB HEARTH, VIEWED FROM THE WEST (MISSION DE KITION)</figcaption></figure>

The hearth was built in the south-east corner of the room and is roughly circular. It is framed by rectangular refractory (fireclay) bricks, and it is associated with a limestone block (45 cm in height) placed in an upright position. The hearth was composed of three successive levels of ash, separated by clay floors (SU S10-330, S10-337 and S1-338) which document three successive use-levels. It contained very little material, only tiny pottery sherds that date, when identifiable, to the Late Cypriot IIIB period. Was the jar placed on this hearth during the purple production process and later discarded during a later stage of occupation in the Late Cypriot IIIB settlement, when the floor levels of both the room and the street were raised? No decisive evidence can, at present, prove this association, and no fragment of the purple dye jar was retrieved from the excavation of the room.

Nevertheless, the new finds from the Bamboula excavations, not only from the *loci* where the vessel with purple stains was recovered but also from other layers dating to the Late Bronze and the Early Iron Ages, can be associated with various stages of textile production, the so-called *chaîne opératoire*, which included fulling, spinning and weaving (Georgiadou & Georgiou 2019: 113-118; Georgiou *et al.* 2022-2023: 140-142). They thus reveal the existence of activities related to textile production within the settlement, and we suggest that the dyeing of fibres and/or textiles with marine purple dye was probably part of this process.

## 2. The purple dye jar

Careful study of the findspots and macroscopic analysis of the fabric of K18-516 identified around 60 fragments of this large jar associated with processing textiles with murex purple at Kition Bamboula (Fig. 7.4). No fragments from the jar's rim or base were found. The numerous body fragments preserve distinctive traces of a thick bluish to purple/violet (2.5RP 3/2) residue on their interior surface and traces of burning on the exterior (Fig. 7.5). From the joining fragments we were able to estimate a body diameter of 61 cm (Fig. 7.6).

The pithoid jar was fashioned on a slow wheel. The clay is reddish brown (5YR 5/4) to yellowish red (5YR 5/6) throughout the section. The vessel's surface was slipped with a pale yellow-whitish wash (2.5Y 8/3) that was worn in places, and it had traces of burning (Figs 7.4, 7.5). The fabric is hard-fired and coarse with very frequent, poorly sorted inclusions. These include mostly tiny, whitish and rounded grits, medium-sized, whitish and dark-coloured sub-rounded grits, a few tiny micaceous inclusions and several larger, elongated voids that could correspond to decomposed organic remains (chaff/straws). These elongated voids are clearly observed on the interior and exterior surfaces, as well as in the vessel's section. While the fabric of the vessel and its technological features are similar to those of other large containers recovered in contemporary contexts at Bamboula, analytical work is required to firmly ascertain its place of manufacture.
<figure><img src="image_10.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.4 SELECTED BODY FRAGMENTS BELONGING TO THE PURPLE-DYE JAR K18-516 EXCAVATED IN DIFFERENT STRATIGRAPHIC UNITS. UPPER ROW SHOWS THE FRAGMENTS' EXTERIOR VIEW, LOWER ROW SHOWS THE INTERIOR VIEW (MISSION DE KITION)</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_11.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.5 THE TWO LARGEST BODY FRAGMENTS (MENDED FROM SMALLER PIECES) OF THE PURPLE-DYE JAR K18-516 FROM STRATIGRAPHIC UNITS S10-227 AND S10-221. EXTERIOR SURFACE ON THE LEFT, INTERIOR SURFACE ON THE RIGHT (MISSION DE KITION)</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_12.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.6 THE PRESERVED AND PARTIALLY RECONSTRUCTED PURPLE-DYE JAR (J. HUMBERT)</figcaption></figure>

Chemical analysis of the purple residues indicates that the material in the jar is connected with marine molluscs (see below; also, Garnier 2019). These results present an extremely rare example for the use of such vessels during the process of dyeing textiles with murex purple in Cyprus. Similar jars have been discovered in large numbers at Late Bronze and Iron Age Levantine sites, such as Sarepta, Kabri and Keisan (Koren 2013: 52-53, 59; see also Reese 2010 and this volume). A significant number of jars with purple dye residues were also found in late 9th century BCE contexts of the settlement of Tel Shiqmona in modern-day Israel, where they were also connected with the large-scale production of murex purple dye (Sukenik et al. 2017; Shalvi 2020: 1890, fig. 5; Shalvi & Gilboa 2023).

Experimental archaeology and laboratory analyses have long sought to decipher and replicate the procedures described in ancient literary sources, in particular Pliny the Elder (*Naturalis Historia* IX, 124-141). Pigment preparation involved extracting the dye gland from the live shellfish followed by various phases of fermentation and reduction to produce the purple for its subsequent use as a dye (e.g. Cardon 2007: 428; Koren 2013; Cooksey 2016; 2017; Kalaitzaki *et al.* 2017; Kanold 2017). Sukenik's analysis of coloured fabrics provides a rare glimpse into the murex purple dyeing process (Sukenik *et al.* 2021). In short, the reconstructed steps include placing the extracted dye glands in a covered container with liquid for several days in order to initiate the fermentation process and create anaerobic bacteria. This liquid was subsequently reduced through moderate heating (50°C) amid efforts to maintain pH levels (around 9) with the use of alkaline additives that acted as mordants and dissolved the dye components. During this process, the solution was stirred from time to time over a period of three to five days, after which the fleece/fibre/textile was immersed into the greenish-coloured solution. The purple colour was finally achieved though oxidation when the fleece/fibre/textile was later exposed to air. To obtain a deeper purple hue, the immersions would have been repeated (see Koren 2013; for a review of the literature on purple dye production, see Macdonald 2017: 24-74).

The vessels involved in this procedure are often conventionally called vats. While no complete example has yet been recovered, the recent study of jar fragments at Shiqmona illustrates their form and size. The mouths of these closed vessels are estimated to measure 40 to 60 cm and the maximum diameter of the body would have been even larger (Karmon & Spanier 1988: 185-186, fig. 1). The vessel's shape was designed to secure the appropriate conditions for the dye processing. The orifice's diameter was narrow enough to be easily covered by a lid, which protected the heated dye solution from contact with air and sunlight, and at the same time was large enough to facilitate the dyeing bath. In contrast to the jars used in the murex purple dyeing process, the vessels used for plant dyeing were, as a rule, open vessels, namely basins or vats (Sukenik *et al.* 2017: 9).
In the case of the pithoid jar from Kition Bamboula, a thick, purple-coloured residue covers the largest part of the interior lower surface of the extant body (Fig. 7.6). This suggests that the vessel was completely exposed to air after the dyeing process was finished. This exposure would have incited the oxidation of the remaining dye in the jar, causing it to convert to an insoluble condition and adhere to the vessel's walls (Koren 2013: 63). Studies of similar jars with residue from purple dye have drawn attention to the fact that the stains occur in particular on the jars' upper parts, and they have argued that such containers would be filled almost to the rim with the dye solution and that the stains on this part could have been formed during the fermentation and reduction processes (Karmon & Spanier 1988: 185-186; Koren 2013: 51; Sukenik et al. 2017: 9; 2021: 4-5). The emerging evidence suggests that purple stains could occur at different phases of the vat dyeing process, such as during the reduction of the dye solution or after the completion of the dye bath.

# 3. Chemical residue analyses

## 3.1. Methods

The dark deposit on the interior surface of one fragment of K18-516 from Kition Bamboula was sampled using a modelling drill. Two complementary procedures were used to extract powder (ca. 80 mg). In the first stage of analysis, the use of classical solvents, e.g. dichloromethane and methanol under ultrasonication, allows the extraction of soluble lipidic material (first lipid extract, 1LE). The second stage, implemented in an anhydrous acidic medium using boron trifluoride / *n*-butanol / cyclohexane complex, allows the cleavage of polymeric material and the dissolution of insoluble molecules (second lipid extract 2LE; Garnier & Valamoti 2016). Both extracts are centrifuged, filtered through silica gel, and derivatised by BSTFA (*N*,*O*-bistrimethylsilyl trifluoroacetamide) / pyridine (10:1 v/v, 50 µL, 80°C, 30 min), evaporated to dryness, dissolved in cyclohexane, and submitted to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. The trimethysilylated 1LE and 2LE were diluted in hexane (100 µL). An aliquot (1 µL) was injected splitless at 280°C onto a 20 m x 0.18 mm internal diameter x 0.1 µm film thickness Phenomenex Zebron-5MSi of a Thermo GC Trace 1300 fitted with a Zebron-5MSi column (20 m × 0.18 mm i.d. × 0.1 µm thickness) and a temperature program from 50°C (8 min) to 350°C (10°C·min⁻¹, 5.0 min). The GC apparatus is coupled with an Exactive Mass Spectrometer, with a transfer line maintained at 300°C and the source of the spectrometer heated at 230°C. The Orbitrap analyser scanned with a 60,000 resolution the mass range 50-650 amu at 7 scans/s. The compounds were identified according to the mass spectra recorded in electronic impact mode (70eV) with reference to the NIST and Wiley libraries, as well as by their exact mass and by studying the fragmentation mechanisms for transesterified compounds.

For the second extract, we implemented the conventional method for the detection of indigoids in order to validate our identifications. The protocol described by Karapanagiotis (2019) was adapted for absorbed residues in ceramics. An aliquot (26.2 mg) of the powder was obtained by scratching the surface with a scalpel and extracted by pure DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, 200 µL) at 80°C for 15 min. Then acetonitrile was added (400 µL) and the solution filtered through a 0.22 µm Teflon filter. The filtrate was analysed by LC-UV-ESI-MS (Liquid Chromatography Ultraviolet detection with Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry) using a Dionex Ultimate 3000 UHPLC system, coupled with an LCQ Fleet ion mass spectrometer (ThermoScientific, San Jose, CA, USA), fitted with an electrospray (ESI) source. Analyses were carried out with a Kinetex C18 column (Phenomenex, 2.3 µm particle size, 150 mm x 2.1 mm) at a stable temperature of 40°C. The gradient elution was performed using water with 0.1% formic acid (sln A) and acetonitrile with 0.1 % formic acid (sln B) with a gradient: from 10:90 v/v to 0:100 in 8 min, maintained for 4 min. The monitoring wavelengths were 254, 288, 510 nm, and a PAD with a range 190 to 800 nm. The eluate was then infused into the ESI source. The MS analytical conditions were spray voltage, 5 kV; sheath gas, 30 bar; auxiliary gas, 5 bar; sweep gas, 0 bar; capillary temperature, 320°C; capillary voltage, 40 V; tube lens, 115 V; and mass range, m/z 100 to 800 in positive mode. Helium was used as the collision gas.
## 3.2. Results

The first applied method, which is unconventional for dyes, is the general approach used for the global characterisation of organic ancient materials in ceramic vessels. This methodology is not optimised for the identification of indigoids but allows the precise identification of lipid markers which act as proxies of the indigoids. The first lipid extract consists mainly of even-numbered fatty acids (16:0-20:0) associated with the animal (cholesterol) and the vegetal sterols (sitosterol) in relatively equal quantities (ratio chol / sito 0.95) (Fig. 7.7). Epicholestanol and coprostan-3-one are also detected with cholestadiene and cholestatriene, a combination characteristic of fermented marine products (Garnier et al. 2019) that could be correlated with the fermentation step during the first days of the dye-making process. Odd-numbered *n*-alkanes indicate vegetal waxes, e.g. a deposit of leaves/twigs/roots.

<figure><img src="image_13.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.7 CHROMATOGRAM OF THE FIRST LIPIDIC EXTRACT OBTAINED FROM THE DARK RESIDUES PRESERVED ON THE INNER SIDE OF THE KITION BAMBOULA JAR (N. GARNIER)</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_14.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.8 ANTHRANILIC ACID AND ISATIN DERIVATIVES OBTAINED BY ACID-CATALYSED EXTRACTION OF INDIGOIDS (N. GARNIER)</figcaption></figure>

The next step tells us more about the dark residue. Although coprostanols and coprostanone are confirmed, indigoid derivatives are very common. 1H-indole-2,3-dione (= isatin) and its 6-bromo derivatives are formed during the acidic BF₃-catalysed attack of the brominated indigoids (Fig. 7.8). The parallel study of the BF₃-catalysed hydrolysis of 6,6'-dibromoindigo in the same experimental procedures shows the formation of anthranilic acid and 4-bromoanthranilic acid, detected as free acid and butyl ester of 4-bromo N-butyl anthranilic acid. Figure 7.9 clearly shows the identification of this marker by its mass spectrum and its exact mass with an extremely high precision (error of Δ*m*/m* - 0.3 ppm for the molecular ion at *m/z* 327.08309 for the molecule with the ⁷⁹Br isotope, and at *m/z* 329.08100 for the ⁸¹Br isotope). Anthranilic acid and its 4-bromo derivative are also formed respectively by the cleavage of indigotin/indirubin and their 6-bromo homologous, including 6-monobromoindigotin (MBI). Isatin is associated to 6-bromoisatin, a by-product of oxidation of tyriverdin, the precursor of 6,6'-dibromoindigo (DBI) in the studied *Plicopurpura pansa* (López Chávez et al. 2009). The native DBI, e.g. originally present in the vessel during its use, and preserved, is not detected by GC-MS. Although the low volatility of DBI inhibits its chromatographic elution, many brominated compounds can be securely detected in the second extract (Fig. 7.10). Even if the precise definition of the origin of these brominated markers requires the identification of MBI and DBI by liquid chromatography, as presented below, the hypothesis of the Muricidae is the most probable (Wolk & Frimer 2010).
<figure><img src="image_15.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.9 EI-HRMS SPECTRUM OF 4-BROMO N-BUTYL O-BUTYL ANTHRANILATE ISSUED FROM THE BF₃-CATALYSED CLEAVAGE OF A STANDARD 6,6'-DIBROMOINDIGO (N. GARNIER)</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_16.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.10 CHROMATOGRAM OF THE SECOND EXTRACT. THE MASS FRAGMENTOGRAMS AT M/Z 176, 196-197 AND 198 ALLOW THE IDENTIFICATION OF ISATIN AND BROMO ANTHRANILIC ACID DERIVATIVES, COMING FROM INDIGOID STRUCTURES (N. GARNIER)</figcaption></figure>
In addition, tartaric and malic acids are also detected, in a ratio, indicating grape, is the most common. Vanillic and syringic acids formed from peonidin and malvidin and their polyphenolic derivatives allow the colour of grape to be specified: i.e. dark grape. A sugar-rich grape juice, instead of the honey recommended by Vitruvius, could also be used as a reducing agent, to maintain the purple pigments in their reduced soluble form (Cardon 2007: 429). Also, tartar is widely used for dyeing, combined with potash or lime for fixing the colours and maintaining an oxide-type pigment in solution as a dispersion.

Next, we performed the conventional step in the analysis, which involved extraction and an analytical technique adapted for indigoid dyes, using DMSO as the extraction solvent. The yellowish DMSO organic extract, obtained from the absorbed residues, presented an extremely low concentration of organic matter. Therefore, the UV signal and the MS signal enabled us to identify the main indigoids: indigotin (IND), indirubin (INR), 6-monobromoindigotin (MBI), and 6,6'-dibromoindigotin (DBI) (Fig. 7.11). The markers were identified according to: (1) their retention time, by comparison with a solution of standards strictly analysed in the same conditions (Fig. 7.12); (2) their UV spectrum; and (3) their ESI+ mass spectrum (Fig. 7.13). MBI and DBI were easily identified with their typical molecular massive for the [M-H]⁻ ion with the characteristic isotopic distribution of the bromine ⁷⁹Br/⁸¹Br, a ratio 1:1 for the monobrominated MBI with molecular ions at *m/z* 341 and *m/z* 343, and a ratio 1:2:1 for the dibrominated DBI with molecular ions at *m/z* 375, at *m/z* 377 and *m/z* 379. The presence of MBI and DBI undoubtedly testifies to the presence of Muricidae extract and the production of murex purple dye in this jar.

As the sample was rigorously extracted and analysed under the same conditions as those used by Karapanagiotis, the quantification of the indigoids by integration of the signal at 288 nm can be compared to the published results (Karapanagiotis *et al.* 2013). Integrating our results with those of the aforementioned analysis (as shown on their table 6), the PCA treatment shows clearly that the Kition Bamboula jar is very similar to T1, T3, T4 and T6, which represent *Hexaplex trunculus* extracts from Tunisia and Spain (Karapanagiotis *et al.* 2013, table 4) (Fig. 7.14).

Summing up, the combination of the traditional approach with an atypical and unconventional analytic method for the characterisation of dyes has led us to a comprehensive organic definition of the dark violet residue preserved on the interior surface of the ceramic vessel. The classical approach using an optimised extraction of the indigoids by DMSO and their analysis by LC-UV-ESI-MS allowed us to identify Muricidae. Comparing our results to those of Karapanagiotis *et al.* 2013, the relative concentrations of indigoids allowed the definition of the exploited shellfish as *Hexaplex trunculus*. The GC-HRMS approach adapted for the characterisation of lipids and phenolics brought new data that are not usually explored in the dye field. The impregnations of the ceramic vessel with dark grape derivatives (fruit with stems, even leaves) imply that it was probably used for extracting tartar, exhausting and darkening the dye, and for maintaining a reductive medium to ensure the solubility of the reduced form of purple pigments. The presence of fermented marine markers suggests that the dye or even parts of the flesh of the molluscs had been left in the vessel together with grape during the fermentation stage for the preparation of the dye. An alternative interpretation could be suggested, with the pithoid jar being used to contain the dark grape product in a previous use, but this seems less likely given the other findings.
<figure><img src="image_17.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.11 CHROMATOGRAM OF THE KITION BAMBOULA JAR EXTRACT BY ESI IN POSITIVE MODE REVEALING THE TYPICAL IONS OF INDIGOTIN IND AND INDIRUBIN IDR (M/Z 263), OF 6-MONOBROMINDIGOTIN MBI (M/Z 341 + 343) AND OF 6,6'-DIBROMOINDIGOTIN DBI (M/Z 375 + 377 + 379). INDIGOIDS ARE ALSO DETECTED AT 288 NM AND AT 610 NM (N. GARNIER)</figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="image_18.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.12 CHROMATOGRAM OF A MIXTURE OF STANDARDS IND, IDR, MBI AND DBI DETECTED BY ESI-MS IN POSITIVE MODE AND IN UV AT 600-620 NM (N. GARNIER)</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_19.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.13 MASS SPECTRA IN ESI-POSITIVE MODE AND UV-SPECTRA OF THE INDIGOIDS IDENTIFIED ON THE KITION BAMBOULA JAR. MOLECULES ARE DESIGNED AS CONJUGATED ENOL ETHERS (N. GARNIER)</figcaption></figure>
<figure><img src="image_20.png" /><figcaption>FIG. 7.14 PCA SCORES FROM THE RELATIVE CONCENTRATIONS OF IND, INR, MBI, DBI AND DBIR (KARAPANAGIOTIS ET AL. 2013, TABLE 6), AND THE KITION BAMBOULA JAR, INTEGRATED AT 288 NM. THE EIGENVALUES FOR IND, INR, MBI, DBI AND DBIR ARE INDICATED BY LINES. THE LABELS REFER TO THE SAMPLES OF KARAPANAGIOTIS ET AL. 2013 (TABLE 6) (N. GARNIER)</figcaption></figure>

**4. Concluding remarks: assessing the evidence from Kition Bamboula**

Purple dye production in ancient Cyprus has thus far only been recorded at a small number of sites, where the evidence consists primarily of significant concentrations of crushed murex shells. Good examples include the late Iron Age contexts of the Hadjiabdullah acropolis at Palaepaphos (Iacovou & Mylona 2019; and this volume) and the Cypro-Archaic sanctuary at Polis Peristeries (Smith 2002: 285; see in general Smith 2018). Reese and Lerneau provide a diachronic review of all the purple dye shell evidence from Cyprus (Reese & Lerneau 2018: 542-543; see also Reese 2019 and this volume). The fragmentary jar from Kition Bamboula thus provides a new type of data on the purple dye industry in Cyprus and an extremely rare attestation of the dyeing process. Finds from the recent excavations at the Late Bronze Age settlement of Hala Sultan Tekke offer an interesting parallel. In addition to large deposits of shells, work at the Hala Sultan Tekke settlement (Reese 2010: 125; Reese & Lerneau 2018: 535-538; Fischer & Bürge this volume) recently exposed a basin coated with lime plaster that preserves purple dye stains. The basin, within an archaeological context rich in purple dye-related evidence, offers vivid testimony of purple dyeing activities at the site (Fischer & Bürge 2018: 171; Sabatini 2018; see also Fischer & Bürge this volume). So far, no ceramic vessels comparable to the pithoid jar from Kition Bamboula have been reported.

From a wider Eastern Mediterranean perspective, it is notable that a range of specialised but also more generic vessels can be associated with different stages of purple dye production at a number of Aegean Bronze Age sites. This is the case for instance at Alatzomouri Pefka on Crete, where a jar with chemical traces of purple dye, as well as a series of vessels related to heating liquids, such as different types of cooking pots, were brought to light together with permanent basins or vat installations (Koh *et al.* 2016; Apostolakou *et al.* 2016:
204-206; Betancourt et al. 2020). Similar heating vessels also lacking purple stains are attested in the purple dye production site of Chryssi on Crete (Apostolakou et al. 2016: 203), while new evidence for closed ceramic vessels with purple stains is now reported at the Late Bronze Age settlement of Cape Kolonna on Aegina (see Berger et al. this volume). These ceramic vessels are significantly smaller than the pithoid jars known so far from Late Bronze and Iron Age sites in the Levant, and the recent find from Kition Bamboula and could, therefore, have served different purposes in the manufacture and use of purple dye (e.g. heating and preparing the pigment, transporting the dye solution to the dyeing vats, etc.). In contrast, the large jars, as noted above, were evidently used not only for the dye preparation (during which heating was required and caused the soot traces visible on parts of the vessels), but also for the dyeing baths.

More information about the dyeing process, including both the recipe and preparation, is now provided by the results of the residue analyses of the jar from Kition Bamboula. The main component in this case was *Hexaplex trunculus*, which produces more pigment and in deeper colours than the other species of the Muricidiae family (Alfaro & Mylona 2014: 151-153). At the same time, vine leaves or smashed raisins were used during the fermentation and reduction processes to ensure a better method for fixing the murex purple dye.

Study of a similar purple dye jar from an 11th century BCE context at Tel Keisan indicates that the vessel had a capacity of roughly 100 litres. Koren estimates that 10,000 glands from *Hexaplex trunculus* shellfish were needed to fill the jar for purple dye preparation, which in turn would have been sufficient for dyeing 1.5 kgs of wool (Koren 2013: 58-60). This example clearly illustrates the large numbers of murex shellfish required for this craft. As such, it is not surprising that large deposits of crushed shells would constitute the most common evidence for purple dye production, in conjunction with installations and tools (see for example Alberti 2008).

As noted above, the purple dye jar from Kition Bamboula was found incomplete and in a secondary deposition, without any direct relation to installations that could be identified as working spaces. However, the dearth of any concentrations of discarded shellfish fragments which could be related to purple dyeing activities or food consumption, and other possible secondary uses is noteworthy. Only a handful of purple shellfish fragments have been identified by Armelle Gardeisen. Wet sieving (also known as water flotation) was sporadically practiced on specific contexts of the settlement (not on the fill of the street though) and it led to the same result. The same pattern has also been observed in the study of faunal remains from the other, later complexes at the site, like the sanctuary area where very few murex shells have been found (Gardeisen 2015: 364-365). The absence of murex seashells at Bamboula could indicate that the fishing and processing of the shellfish were conducted at other locations, although it is possible that the crushed remains were transported elsewhere for a secondary use, or even that they were recycled at the site itself, but not yet recovered.

The evidence from Bronze Age Alatzomouri Pefka on Crete provides a useful parallel. Study there clearly showed that textile production was organised as a series of steps at different sites. Alatzomouri Pefka was a specialised site with permanent installations used only for the dyeing process (Apostolakou et al. 2016: 204-206; Betancourt et al. 2020). Based on the examination of the excavated remains, it has been proposed that the initial stages of purple dye production (that is, the fishing and smashing of shells) were not practiced at the site and that ‘... purple dye was brought to the Pefka workshop in a semi-strained, liquid form, which still contained some shell fragments’ (Apostolakou et al. 2016: 205; Mylona 2020; see also Palaima 2020). Indeed, the transport of any form of purple dye (e.g. as glands, in a semi-liquid form, etc.) remains an open question in the scholarship, and different hypotheses, such as the use of honey as a preservative, which is referred to in the ancient sources, remain to be confirmed by experimental archaeology (Macdonald 2017: 57).

The transportation of smashed murex shells to other sites for secondary uses, such as the production of lime plaster or pottery temper, has been identified in the archaeological record at both coastal and inland sites across the Mediterranean (Alfaro & Mylona 2014: 160; Carannante 2014: 275-277). The evidence of large concentrations of murex shells without other traces of actual purple dyeing has been considered suggestive of recycling practices (see for example, Iacovou & Mylona 2019, and this volume). Considering the complete absence of such concentrations at Bamboula, it appears that such activities (i.e. fishing, crushing and secondary uses of the discarded shells) were not taking place at the site, since, even if we assume that the crushed seashells were transported to another location or were recycled in situ, one would expect at least a few to have been left behind.
Surprisingly enough, work at contemporary locations within Kition (e.g. Kathari and Chrysopolitissa) have also failed to recover any substantial murex concentrations (see Georgiadou & Georgiou 2019: 110). The only exception is new data deriving from the ongoing excavations of G. Georgiou, on behalf of the Department of Antiquities, Cyprus, at Kition Mantovani, which belong however, to later Iron Age levels (see in general Georgiou 2020). We anticipate that the continuous archaeological investigations within ancient Kition by the Department of Antiquities and the French Mission will clarify this picture; there is also a scarcity of references to purple production at Kition itself in the ancient literature (for the small corpus of written sources mentioning purple dye production in Cyprus, see Cannavò 2019: 156-157). The only known reference is to the father of the Kitian stoic philosopher Zenon, who was a *porphyra* merchant (Yon 2004: 99-116, no. 101, Diogenes Laertius VII, 1-39).

While evidence of purple dye production during LC IIIA-LC IIIB at Kition is limited to the heating jar with intense soot marks on its exterior surface and the purple dye stains on its interior, a substantial corpus of artefacts from the period can be associated to different stages of textile production (Georgiadou & Georgiou 2019: 113-118; for the *chaîne opératoire* see Marin Aguilera *et al.* 2017; also Gambash *et al.* 2022). Taken together, these finds attest to the operation of a specialised textile processing and purple dyeing workshop, dating to the transition between the Late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age at the site (Georgiadou & Georgiou 2019: 119-120).

Besides the settlement of Bamboula, contemporary evidence of LC IIIA and LC IIIB date related to textile production is reported from the Kition Kathari sanctuary zone, where industrial facilities were identified within the sacred structures, and from the Kition Chrysopolitissa settlement (Smith 2002). At Kathari in particular, installations and artefacts related to dyeing have been identified, but not in connection to murex purple dye. None of the steps associated with the dyeing process have been identified at Chrysopolitissa so far. In assessing the available documentation from these two sites (installations and concentrations of tools), Joanna Smith concluded that different scales of production operated at Kition: household production was identified at Chrysopolitissa, as opposed to the large-scale industry at Kathari (Smith 2002: 299-304).

In the urban milieu of Kition during the 12th and 11th centuries BCE, at least three neighbouring textile workshops were operating at different production scales yet, the costly and time-consuming step of murex purple dyeing was apparently only conducted at the Bamboula settlement. No assessment regarding the scale of production can, however, be provided at present because of the lack of installations and important concentrations of other related tools. While the continuation of the murex purple dye production at Bamboula in later periods cannot yet be substantiated, there is evidence to suggest the operation of a thriving textile industry at the site. For instance, it has been suggested that a fullery workshop dating to the early Hellenistic period operated near the hangars (see Callot & Fourrier 2019) (Fig. 7.1).

In conclusion, through the interdisciplinary study of an otherwise modest find, a highly fragmented and poorly preserved pithoid jar from Bamboula found in a context dating to the era marking the end of the Late Bronze Age and the inception of the Early Iron Age in Cyprus, the coastal settlement of Kition can now be added to the list of Eastern Mediterranean sites with evidence of purple dye production. It further allows us to conclude that the Kitian community participated in common practices and the *savoir faire* of purple dye production within the Eastern Mediterranean networks, as well as shared ideological and symbolic values regarding the consumption of purple dye (cf. Kremer 2017). Despite the scarce archaeological and literary records for the production of the highly valued *porphyra* within the cosmopolitan harbour site of Kition, the purple dye jar at Bamboula constitutes the first tangible archaeological evidence for the art of murex purple dyeing during the 12th - 11th centuries BCE. Some centuries later, during the course of the 4th century BCE, the significance of murex purple dye at Kition is again illustrated, although this time through textual sources, which mention that the father of Zenon the Kitieus, the founder of Stoic philosophy, was a *porphyra* merchant.
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