SINGULAR DETERMINATION OF THE MALACOLOGICAL PROVENANCE OF ROYAL PURPLE
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-03-17

The purple pigment produced from various Mollusca has been found on a number of archaeological artifacts, such as Aegean wall paintings from nearly four millennia ago to Greek and Roman textile dyeings – often referred to as Tyrian Purple – dating from 3,000- and 2,000-years ago. It is well known that in the Eastern Mediterranean, a purple pigment can be extracted from three different marine species of the Muricidae family of mollusks: Hexaplex (= Murex) trunculus, Bolinus (= Murex) brandaris, and Stramonita (= Purpura) haemastoma. However, modern researchers have grappled with various questions associated with this ancient ”Dye of Dyes”: Were all three species equally used or was one species always, or primarily, used with possible additions from the others? What were the exact procedures by which dyeings with this molluskan pigment were performed with the tools and natural materials available to the ancient dyer? Was Pliny correct in his classic description of the purple dyeing process? Which peoples were the first to develop the dyeing process? How many sea snails were needed for the dyeing of one royal cloak? In order to answer these questions, micro-analyses on modern and archaeological purple pigments were performed via the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique, the optimal method for such multi-component investigations. From a quantitative comparison of the main indigoids possibly present in the purple pigment – purple dibromoindigo (DBI), violet monobromoindigo (MBI), and blue indigo (IND) – as well as related components, it is apparent that the H. trunculus species is different from all other sea snails. This discovery together with the archaeo-chemical record and a reconstruction of the ancient purple dyeing process has provided revolutionary insights regarding the most royal and sacred of all dyes – the purple pigment – and has given singular answers to the above-mentioned questions.


Author(s): Koren, Zvi (The Edelstein Center for the Analysis of Ancient Artifacts; Department of Chemical Engineering; Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art)