The color purple appears several times in the Bible, usually in a robe draping one of the kings of ancient Israel. But the search for an authentic artifact dyed the royal color from the time of King David has always proved elusive. No longer. Researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Bar Ilan University, and Tel Aviv University said they had identified pieces of fabric dyed “true purple,” dating to the 10th century BCE, when David and Solomon ruled in Jerusalem. The scraps were discovered by archaeologists working in the Timna Valley.

The majority of ancient textiles excavated around the world were dyed with colors derived from plants. But the purple dyes in the Timna Valley find were made from the secretions of mollusks, regarded as more prestigious, equal to the wearer’s high economic and social status. 

To determine which mollusk species produced the dyes found on the Timna textiles and how the various hues were created, researchers identified dry molecules belonging to specific sea mollusk species, and extracted tiny amounts of dyestuff from thousands of mollusks.