In the city of Carlisle, northern England, archaeologists and volunteers discovered a rare object during an excavation of a Roman bath. The object, made of a soft purple substance, contained beeswax and the element bromine, indicating that it is a solid sample of Tyrian purple dye. This dye was highly valuable in ancient times as it was used by the upper class for frescoes.
Tyrian purple is secreted by some carnivorous sea snails living in the Mediterranean region. Producing this dye is extremely difficult as it requires thousands of sea snails to create just 1 gram of dye. This made the substance extremely expensive and reserved only for the rich and powerful. Frank Giecco, an archaeologist with mining consultancy Wardell Armstrong, described Tyrian purple as the most expensive and sought-after color in the world throughout history.
The Phoenicians first produced Tyrian purple in the 2nd millennium BC in Tire, Lebanon, and other Mediterranean areas. The dye was used for painting frescoes and other decorative purposes. The discovery of this rare dye block at Carlisle sheds light on the intricate and costly process of creating this highly valued pigment in ancient times. Sarah Irving from Cumberland Council collaborated on the excavation project stated that this finding represents possibly the only solid sample of unused paint pigment in the Roman empire.
