What is it about?
For over 500 years during the Iron Age (ca. 1100–600 BCE), Tel Shiqmona on Israel’s Carmel coast operated as a specialized center for producing purple dye — the luxurious color associated with royalty and ritual. Our research reveals that this is the only known site around the Mediterranean where large-scale purple dye workshops were active continuously during the Iron Age — the heart of the Biblical era. Using mineralogical, chemical, and archaeological analysis, we solved a longstanding mystery: what did purple dye workshops actually look like? For the first time, we were able to reconstruct the shape of the massive clay vats used in the process, shedding new light on how the dye was produced, stored, and used on-site. This marks a breakthrough in understanding ancient industrial technology and everyday practices in the Biblical world.
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Why is it important?
Purple dye is the perfect example of what makes a product truly luxurious — it was long-lasting, chemically bonded to fabric, impossible to remove, and relied on rare resources and complex knowledge. As a result, it became an elite commodity — worn by rulers, high priests, and used in sacred spaces. Its status as a symbol of wealth, power, and sanctity gave it deep cultural and economic meaning across civilizations. While purple dye has fascinated researchers for generations, very little was known about how it was actually produced — especially before the Roman period. Our research offers the first detailed look at how this dye was manufactured on an industrial scale during the Iron Age. This allows us to better understand the structure of ancient dye industries and trace the historical development of purple as a political, cultural, and economic force — far beyond its role as a color.
Perspectives
This project began with a few small traces of purple dye that were discovered almost by accident. As we continued, we began noticing more and more vessels bearing similar stains. Realizing the scale of the phenomenon — the largest collection of purple-stained pottery ever found at a single site — was incredibly exciting. Through a collaborative effort and painstaking work by many researchers, we were able to solve a long-standing mystery and reconstruct the purple dye workshops of the Iron Age. These findings go far beyond craft history; they shed light on the political and economic dynamics of the region. For example, our results suggest that the Kingdom of Israel had gained control over the lucrative purple dye industry at Shiqmona — a sign of its growing power and influence.
Golan Shalvi
University of Haifa
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Tel Shiqmona during the Iron Age: A first glimpse into an ancient Mediterranean purple dye ‘factory’, PLOS One, April 2025, PLOS,
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321082.
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