Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T06:08:16.819Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Chromatographic Investigations of Purple Archaeological Bio-Material Pigments Used as Biblical Dyes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 August 2012

Zvi C. Koren
Zvi C. Koren*
Affiliation:
The Edelstein Center for the Analysis of Ancient Artifacts, Department of Chemical Engineering, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, 12 Anna Frank St., 52526 Ramat-Gan, Israel.
*
*e-mail: zvi@shenkar.ac.il
Get access

Abstract

This article discusses recent scientific research performed by the author in understanding the composition of archaeological purple pigments and dyes from molluskan sources, which were primarily used for the dyeing of royal and priestly textiles, as also cited in the Bible. Towards this end, the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method has been applied to the qualitative and quantitative multi-component fingerprinting of purple pigments extracted from various Muricidae mollusks inhabiting the Mediterranean waters. The results show that the colorants in these purple pigments belong to three chemical groups: the indigoids (of major importance), the indirubinoids, and the isatinoids. Application of this analytical method to purple pigments and dyes on archaeological artifacts from the ancient Near and Middle East has lead to a number of breakthroughs and discoveries made by this laboratory. These include the following: decipherment of the optimal method by which the ancients practiced purple-dyeing by completely natural means; first HPLC analysis of a raw unprocessed purple archaeological snail pigment and the resulting identification of a dibrominated indirubin in this pigment; discovery of the purple pigment as the sole paint pigment on a 2,500 royal marble jar from the Persian King Darius I; and the discovery that a 2,000 year old miniscule fabric found atop the Judean Desert palatial fortress of Masada belonged to the royal purple mantle of King Herod I and is the first Biblical Argaman dye found in ancient Israel.

Keywords

gas chromatographyarchaeologydye
Type
Articles
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1374: Symposium S8 – Cultural Heritage and Archaeological Issues in Materials Science , 2012 , pp. 29 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aristotle. History of animals. Peck, A L (transl.), Loeb Classical Library, Book V, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2002.Google Scholar
Pliny the Elder. Natural history. Rackham, H (transl), Loeb Classical Library, Book IX, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1952.Google Scholar
Cardon, D., Le monde des teintures naturelles. Éditions Belin, Paris, 2003. 418.Google Scholar
Cardon, D., Natural dyes – sources, tradition, technology and science. Archetype Publications, London, chapter 11, 2007.Google Scholar
Haubrichs, R., L’étude de la pourpre: histoire d’une couleur, chimie et expérimentations. In: Conchiglie e Archeologia. Borrello, M.A. (ed.), Preistoria Alpina 40, Suppl. 1. Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento, 2004, 133.Google Scholar
Haubrichs, R., Natural history and iconography of purple shells. in: Indirubin, the red shade of indigo. Meijer, L., Guyard, N., Skaltsounis, L., Eisenbrand, G., eds., Life in Progress Editions, Roscoff, chapter 6, 2006, 55.Google Scholar
Cooksey, C.J., Molecules 6 (2001) 736.Google Scholar
Cooksey, C.J., Marine indirubins, in: Indirubin, the red shade of indigo. Meijer, L., Guyard, N., Skaltsounis, L., Eisenbrand, G., eds., Life in Progress Editions, Roscoff, chapter 3, 2001, p 23.Google Scholar
Wouters, J., Verhecken, A., J. Soc. Dyers Colour 107 (1991) 266.Google Scholar
Wouters, J., Dyes Hist. Archaeol. 10 (1992) 17.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., J Soc Dyers Colour 110 (1994) 273.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Isr. J. Chem. 35 (1995) 117.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., HPLC-PDA analysis of brominated indirubinoid, indigoid, and isatinoid dyes. in: Indirubin, the red shade of indigo. Meijer, L., Guyard, N., Skaltsounis, L., Eisenbrand, G., eds., Life in Progress Editions, Roscoff, chapter 5, 2006, p. 45.Google Scholar
Karapanagiotis, I., Amer. Lab. 38 (2006) 36.Google Scholar
Karapanagiotis, I., de Villemereuil, V., Magiatis, P., Polychronopoulos, P., Vougogiannopoulou, K., Skaltsounis, A.L., J. Liq. Chrom. Rel. Tech. 29 (2006) 1491.Google Scholar
Sotiropoulou, S., Karapanagiotis, I., (2006) Conchylian purple investigation in prehistoric wall paintings of the Aegean area. in: Indirubin, the red shade of indigo. Meijer, L., Guyard, N., Skaltsounis, L., Eisenbrand, G., eds., Life in Progress Editions, Roscoff, chapter 7, 2006, 71.Google Scholar
Spanier, E., Karmon, N., Muricid snails and the ancient dye industries, in: The royal purple and the biblical blue: Argaman and tekhelet. The study of Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog on the dye industries in ancient Israel and recent scientific contributions. E. Spanier E, Keter, Jerusalem, 1987, 179.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Dyes Hist. Archaeol. 20 (2005) 136.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Microchim. Acta 162 (2008) 381.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Where Have All the Safflower Reds Gone?17th Meeting of Dyes in History and Archaeology, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK November, 1998.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Dyes Hist. Archaeol. 16/17 (2001) 158.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., The Purple Question Reinvestigated: Just What is Really in That Purple Pigment? , Abstracts of the 20th Meeting of Dyes in History and Archaeology, Department of Conservation Research, Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, Amsterdam, Holland; November, (2001) 10.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Dyes Hist. Archaeol. 21 (2008) 26.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Non-Destructive vs. Microchemical Analyses: The Case of Dyes and Pigments, Proceedings of ART2008, 9th International conference, non-destructive investigations and microanalysis for the diagnostics and conservation of cultural and environmental heritage, May 25-30, Jerusalem, Israel, 2008,371.Google Scholar
Edmonds, J., The mystery of imperial purple dye [cover title: Tyrian or Imperial Purple Dye], Historic Dye Series no. 7, author’s self-publication, Little Chalfont, UK. 2000.Google Scholar
Kanold, I.B., Dyes Hist. Archaeol. 20 (2005) 150.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Dyes Hist. Archaeol. 11 (1993) 25.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., The unprecedented discovery of the Royal Purple dye on the two thousand year-old royal Masada textile. American Institute of Conservation, The Textile Specialty Group Postprints 7 (1997) 23.Google Scholar
Koren, Z.C., Color my world: a personal scientific odyssey into the art of ancient dyes, in: For the sake of humanity: essays in honour of Clemens Nathan. Martinus Nijhoff – Brill, Stephens, A., Walden, R. R (eds.), Leiden, 2006, 155.Google Scholar
Kokkinos, N., The Herodian Dynasty. Spink, London, 2010.Google Scholar
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/world/middleeast/28blue.html?emc=eta1. (accessed Feb. 28, 2011).Google Scholar