National Treasures Department, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel.
The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
PLoS One. 2021 Jan 28;16(1):e0245897. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0245897. eCollection 2021.
In the context of a broad study aimed at examining dyeing technologies in the Timna textiles collection, three samples of prestigious fibers dyed with murex sea snail were identified. Our identification is based on the presence of 6-monobromoindigotin and 6,6-dibromoindigotin components (detected using HPLC analysis), which is considered unequivocal evidence for the use of murex-derived purple dyestuff. Furthermore, by comparing the analytical results with those obtained in a series of controlled dyeing experiments we were able to shed more light on the specific species used in the dyeing process and glean insights into the ancient dyeing technology. The samples originated from excavations at the extensive Iron Age copper smelting site of "Slaves' Hill" (Site 34), which is tightly dated by radiocarbon to the late 11th-early 10th centuries BCE. While evidence for the important role of purple dyes in the ancient Mediterranean goes back to the Middle Bronze Age (early 2nd millennium BCE), finds of dyed textiles are extremely rare, and those from Timna are the oldest currently known in the Southern Levant. In conjunction with other observations of the very high quality of the Timna textiles, this provides an exceptional opportunity to address questions related to social stratification and organization of the nomadic society operating the mines (early Edom), the "fashion" of elite in the region during the early Iron Age, trade connections, technological capabilities, and more.
在一项广泛的研究中，我们旨在检查蒂姆纳纺织品收藏中的染色技术，鉴定出了三种用海螺紫染料染过的名贵纤维样本。我们的鉴定是基于存在 6-单溴靛蓝和 6,6-二溴靛蓝成分（通过 HPLC 分析检测到），这被认为是使用海螺紫染料的明确证据。此外，通过将分析结果与一系列受控染色实验的结果进行比较，我们能够更深入地了解染色过程中使用的具体物种，并深入了解古代染色技术。这些样本来自于“奴隶山”（遗址 34）广泛的铁器时代铜冶炼遗址的挖掘，该遗址通过放射性碳测年被精确地确定为公元前 11 世纪晚期至 10 世纪早期。虽然紫色染料在古代地中海的重要作用可以追溯到中青铜时代（公元前 2000 年中期），但染色纺织品的发现极为罕见，而蒂姆纳的发现是目前已知的在黎凡特南部最早的发现。结合对蒂姆纳纺织品极高质量的其他观察结果，这为解决与开采这些矿山的游牧社会（早期以东）的社会分层和组织、该地区早期铁器时代精英的“时尚”、贸易联系、技术能力等相关问题提供了一个绝佳的机会。
