Remains of fabrics dyed with royal purple have been found during archaeological work in Israel. They are dated to about 3,000 years, during the era of Kings David and Solomon
The dye, which is produced from species of molluscs found in the Mediterranean, more than 300 kilometers from the Timna Valley, where the discovery took place, is often mentioned in the bible and it appears in different Jewish and Christian contexts.
This is the first time purple-dyed Iron Age textiles have been found in Israel, or even throughout the southern Levant. The finding was published in PLoS ONE.
“This is a very exciting and important discovery,” explains the doctor. Naama sukenik, Curator of Organic Finds at the Israel Antiquities Authority. It is the first piece of fabric from the days of David and Solomon to be dyed with the prestigious purple dye. “
Some of the royal dyed purple wool fibers found in the Timna Valley, Israel. Photo: DPA
The researcher recalls that “in ancient times purple clothing was associated with nobility, priests and, of course, royalty. The beautiful shade of purple, the fact that it does not fade and the difficulty of producing the dye, which can be found in minute quantities in the body of mollusks , they made it the most prized dye, which often costs more than gold“.
And he emphasizes that “until the present discovery we had only found remains of mollusk shells and bowls with dye stains, which provided evidence of the purple industry in the Iron Age. Now for the first time we have direct evidence of the dyed fabrics themselves, which have been preserved for about 3,000 years, ”he celebrates.
The teacher Erez Ben-Yosef, from the Archeology Department of the Tel Aviv University, states that “the archaeological expedition has been continuously excavating Timna since 2013. As a result of the region’s extremely dry climate, we can also recover organic materials such as textiles, ropes and leather from the Iron Age, from the days of David and Solomon. gives us a unique vision of life in biblical times. If we were to excavate another hundred years in Jerusalem, we would not discover tissues from 3,000 years ago, “he admits.
The original purple was extracted from three types of Mediterranean mollusks.
Remember that Timna was a copper production center, the equivalent of today’s Iron Age oil. Melting copper required advanced metallurgical knowledge that was a secret and those who possessed this knowledge were the experts in “high tech” of the time.
And Slave Hill is the largest copper smelter in the valley, littered with heaps of industrial waste such as slag from smelters. In exactly one of these stacks were three pieces of colored cloth. “The color immediately caught our attentionBut it was hard for us to believe that we had found a real purple from such an old time, ”he explains.
According to the researchers, true purple (argaman) was produced from three types of mollusks native to the Mediterranean: the murex (Hexaplex trunculus), la Poirieria zelandica (Bolinus brandaris) and the Stramonita hemastoma.
Today, most scholars agree that the two precious dyes, purple (argaman) and light blue, or azure (tekhelet), were produced from the purple-dyed mollusk under different conditions of light exposure. These colors are often mentioned together in ancient sources, and both have symbolic and religious significance to this day. The priests of the temple, David and Solomon, and Jesus of Nazareth they are described as wearing purple clothes.
The analytical tests performed in the laboratories of the Bar Ilan Universityalong with the dyes reconstructed by Professor Zohar Amar and Dr. Sukenik, they make it possible to identify the species used to dye Timna fabrics and the desired shades.
The dye was identified with an advanced analytical instrument (HPLC) that detects the presence of unique dye molecules, originated only in certain types of mollusks. According to Dr. Sukenik: “Most of the dyes found in Timna, and in archaeological research in general, were colored with various dyes of vegetable origin that were easy to obtain and dye. The use of dyes of animal origin is considered considered much more prestigious., and served as an important indicator of this high economic status and user’s social “.
The remains of purple-dyed fabric we found are not only the oldest in Israel, but from the southern Levant in general – it stands out. We also believe that we managed to identify the dual dye method in one of the fragments, using two types of molluscs in an advanced way to enrich the dye. This technology is described by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, from the 1st century AD, and the dye it produced was considered the most prestigious. “
Professor Ben-Yosef identifies the Timna copper production center as part of the Biblical kingdom of Edom, which bordered the kingdom of Israel in the south. According to him, the spectacular finds should revolutionize our concepts of Iron Age nomadic societies.
“The new findings reinforce our assumption that there was an elite in Timna, which attests to a stratified society. In addition, since mollusks are native to the Mediterranean, it is clear that this society continued commercial relationships with other peoples who lived on the coastal plain. However, we have no records of any permanent settlement in the Edomite area, ”he admits.
As he recalls, “When we think of nomads, we find it difficult to make comparisons with contemporary Bedouin and therefore it is difficult for us to imagine kings without beautiful stone palaces or walled cities. But under certain circumstances, nomads can also create a complex socio-political structure that biblical writers might consider a kingdom, ”he says.
The researcher emphasizes that “all this debate has implications for our understanding of Jerusalem during the same period. We know that the tribes of Israel were originally nomadic and that the settlement process was gradual and lengthy. Archaeologists are looking for the king david’s palace but it is possible that David did not express his wealth in beautiful buildings, but rather with objects typical of a nomadic heritage, such as textiles and artifacts. ‘
According to Ben-Yosef: “It is a mistake to assume that if no great buildings and fortresses have been found, the Biblical descriptions of the United monarchy in Jerusalem they must be literary fiction. Our new research in Timna has shown us that even without such buildings, there were kings in the region who ruled complex societies, formed alliances and trade links, and waged war. The wealth of a nomadic society was measured in things that were no less valued in ancient times, such as the copper produced in Timna and the purple dye traded from the copper smelters. ‘