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Supermarket molluscs reveal Roman secret
BBC News ^
| Friday, 12 September, 2003
| Kristine Krug
Posted on 09/12/2003 9:17:38 AM PDT by presidio9
The secret of imperial purple has been rediscovered.
A British amateur chemist has worked out how the ancient Romans dyed the togas of emperors this deep colour thanks to a bacterium found in cockles from the supermarket Tesco.
The hue had special significance as the colour of imperial power. Cleopatra also had the sails on her ship dyed the same colour.
The recipe for the dye had been kept a craft secret, even in ancient Egypt and Rome. There are few references to the dying process in the historical literature.
Green to purple
Modern chemistry can make every shade of every colour, but retired engineer John Edmonds is interested in how the ancients managed to make dyes from natural materials.
He explained to the British Association science festival in Salford, Greater Manchester, how he rediscovered the secret of imperial purple after studying the fermentation process of indigo pigments from the woad plant.
With help of researchers in Reading and from Israel he has been able to establish the vital role played by a bacterium in chemically reducing the ancient pigments so that they will dissolve in a dye solution.
The pigment for imperial purple was derived from Murex molluscs, a form of shellfish. So, Mr Edmunds reasoned that he could try to use the related common cockle.
He bought a jar of them from Tesco. "Having removed the vinegar, I placed several of the cockles with some of the purple pigment in a vat consisting of a 2 lb jam jar."
Modern jeans
The cockles are thought to harbour a bacterium that is crucial in reducing the dye. Wood ash was added to the vat to ensure the mixture did not turn acidic.
The mixture was then kept at 50 Celsius for about 10 days.
Wool dipped in the pigment turned green at first but, eventually, in contact with light, it turned purple.
The recreation of the old dying method might have implications for present-day practice.
Currently, tonnes of chemicals are needed to reduce the dye for denim blue jeans, resulting in large quantities of sulphur waste.
Mr Edmonds said: "University of Reading scientists are trying to understand how the bacterium reduces indigo in order to develop a clean biotechnology to replace the chemical process for indigo reduction in the future."
TOPICS: Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: ancienthistory; archaeology; cleopatra; dietandcuisine; egypt; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; history; murex; murextrunculus; phoenicians; purple; romanempire
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1
posted on
09/12/2003 9:17:39 AM PDT
by
presidio9
To: presidio9
Well, it's good to know we finally got that straightened out.
2
posted on
09/12/2003 9:25:42 AM PDT
by
Huck
To: presidio9
"Bwing me some moowusks!"
3
posted on
09/12/2003 9:27:58 AM PDT
by
KantianBurke
(The Federal govt should be protecting us from terrorists, not handing out goodies)
To: presidio9
So, still no cure for cancer?
To: GraniteStateConservative
Cancer isn't one disease it is a pathology of diseases.
5
posted on
09/12/2003 9:34:18 AM PDT
by
ffusco
(Maecilius Fuscus,Governor of Longovicium , Manchester, England. 238-244 AD)
To: presidio9
This guy should have filed a patent for the process. He is out Multi-Million$ thanks to yapping about it.
However, maybe he was smart enough to leave out a key element or step in the process for this interview.
6
posted on
09/12/2003 9:34:59 AM PDT
by
HighWheeler
(Death and taxes are inevitable, but at least death doesn't get worse every year.)
To: GraniteStateConservative
Reducing the chemicals needed to produce dye-stock does reduce cancer. What is done is the chemical factories are being micro-sized into packetized-factories called bacteria. The toxic and mutagenic chemicals and by-products are all kept within the micro-packetized factory, and not only that the micro-factory is very effecient at using the minimal amounts needed and only when needed, usually turing the really bad bad toxins harmless in some side reaction that immediately follows a toxic step in the dye-producing process.
7
posted on
09/12/2003 9:36:59 AM PDT
by
bvw
To: GraniteStateConservative
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, Grasshopper. :-)
To: KantianBurke
"Stwike him, centuwion, vewwy woughly!"
9
posted on
09/12/2003 9:43:31 AM PDT
by
general_re
(SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Quitting Sarcasm Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks To Your Health.)
To: presidio9
He bought a jar of them from Tesco. "Having removed the vinegar, I placed several of the cockles with some of the purple pigment in a vat consisting of a 2 lb jam jar." LOL...... I love backyard scientists like this!!
LQ
To: general_re
pweese wun yowr speew chekur. You shouwd have witten "wuffwee", wather than "woughly"
11
posted on
09/12/2003 9:51:16 AM PDT
by
70times7
(An open mind is a cesspool of thought)
To: blam
ping (Sorry, do not know if you would be interested in this or not)
To: bvw
Yeah,
But I bet it's heck on the ozone layer.
(wouldn't it be a hoot if it turns out the magic ingrediant was the vinegar?)
13
posted on
09/12/2003 9:58:12 AM PDT
by
norton
To: ffusco
You have such a lovely sense of humor. You must be great at parties.
To: GraniteStateConservative
I try to stay away from parties.
Sulpher waste produced by reducing the dye used in blue jeans?
Wouldn't that be Hillary's domain?
And couldn't she use the sulpher?
15
posted on
09/12/2003 10:06:31 AM PDT
by
Darksheare
(One bad night of waking up somewhere new to me, and I'm forever labeled.)
To: presidio9
"Ah, but what did the purple represent ?" asked Demeter, whose hair falls in golden tresses as only a goddesses does.
"I know , I know !", cried Persephone, "It represents the kykeon of Eleusis!"
At least it did for thousands of years.
Try some, you'll like it, and become epoptes
with the rest of us. :^)
16
posted on
09/12/2003 10:15:23 AM PDT
by
tet68
To: presidio9
We who are about to dye salute you!
<----- Running away
17
posted on
09/12/2003 10:41:02 AM PDT
by
Squawk 8888
(Earth first! We can mine the other planets later.)
To: GraniteStateConservative
Yeah, but sometimes I get too chatty. "The professor will now expound"
18
posted on
09/12/2003 11:47:17 AM PDT
by
ffusco
(Maecilius Fuscus,Governor of Longovicium , Manchester, England. 238-244 AD)
To: HighWheeler
This guy should have filed a patent for the process. He is out Multi-Million$ thanks to yapping about it. Actually that would be multi-million "Pounds". But who's to say he didn't file a patent application. The article doesn't say that he did not. However I'm not sure one can patent a existing process, even though one long lost. He probably can, since he didn't get it from reading old documents, but rather "rediscovered" it.
19
posted on
09/12/2003 1:32:14 PM PDT
by
El Gato
(Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
To: CathyRyan
"ping (Sorry, do not know if you would be interested in this or not)" Yes. I thought the Phoenicians controlled the colr purple for centuries. Also, there's a place in Turkey where the Romans mined 'purple' granite and it was against the law for anyone else to use the color purple.
20
posted on
09/12/2003 3:01:39 PM PDT
by
blam
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