A Phoenician Snail Dye Factory in Israel

PHOENICIAN WATCH: Mysterious Biblical-era Stronghold Was Actually a Phoenician Snail Dye Factory, Archaeologists Say. Tel Shikmona contains the ruins of a powerful edifice built where one shouldn’t have been, given the absence of harbor or beach – but the snails from which purple dye was made were there in droves (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz premium).

Murex shell dye was also used by the Israelites for the tekhelet dye. For more on the Phoenician and the Israelite uses of the dye, see here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.