Archaeologists uncover Iron Age hub for prized purple dye in Israel

A team of anthropologists, archaeologists and historical specialists affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. and Israel has found that there once existed a coastal settlement in what is now modern-day Israel that was the home to an industrial-scale production facility that made a purple dye once prized by many Iron Age Mediterranean societies.

In their excavation, reported in the journal PLOS ONE, the group found dye-making equipment in what was once known as the fishing village Tel Shiqmona.

Prior research has shown that uniquely colored woolen textiles from a dye known as Tyrian purple were popular among people living along the Mediterranean coast during the Iron Age. Because the materials were found in so many locations, it has been assumed that a large manufacturing facility must have existed somewhere, but until now, its location was a mystery.

In this new effort, the research team uncovered large vats stained purple by the dye, along with 176 other artifacts related to the production process involved in processing a raw material into a dye. The dig site is not far from modern Haifa. That raw material was mucus extracted from sea snails who used it to defend themselves.

The raw material is green, the researchers note, but turns purple when exposed to the air. Processing it into dye would have required conducting multiple chemical steps to allow it to bond to a textile. The researchers note that the vats were big enough to hold 350 liters, suggesting that the site was a large-scale manufacturing facility.

Evidence at the dig site suggests it was used as a manufacturing site throughout most of the Iron Age. The researchers believe that manufacture of the dye began at the site approximately 3,000 years ago, though at a small scale. Later, as the Kingdom of Israel began to grow, production increased. Production fell again, they suggest, after the Kingdom of Israel fell, but then increased again after the region was taken over by the Assyrians.

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