Free Republic

For the first time, archaeologists discovered an industrial purple-dye factory that remained in business for 500 years between 1100 and 600 BCE in Israel, highlighting a famous and mysterious color in textile history.The color purple had long symbolized political and spiritual authority and wealth. However, until now, little evidence has surfaced of a physical location where extraction and processing took place.A team from the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and the University of Chicago recently uncovered the first site in "the entire world" at the fishing village of Tel Shiqmona on Israel's Carmel coast. And the number...

A press release published Monday detailed the discovery of a "mysterious" 4000-year-old monolith in Cyprus.The Erimi Archaeological Team at the University of Siena described the large monolith as having a "circular motif of cups in the center," which "tells the story of a distant era of an artisan community in Cyprus." It stands roughly 7.55 feet tall and is part of a sprawling Bronze Age community complex, according to Ancient Origins.The site has also revealed dyeing vats, warehouses and workshops, suggesting it was the site of a significant textile industry. The monolith was uncovered inside a room in the western...

A rare dye made from snails for the robes of the Roman elite almost 2,000 years ago has been unearthed at a cricket club. The chunk of Tyrian purple, roughly the size of a ping pong ball, was dug up at Carlisle Cricket Club as part of ongoing yearly excavations. A Roman bathhouse was discovered at the site in 2017 and in the last three years 2,000 items including pottery, weapons, coins and semi-precious stones have been found. Lead archaeologist Frank Giecco said the find was of "international significance" and the first time the precious pigment had been discovered in...