‘Aperion, King Solomon of the trees, the Lebanon, made for him. His pillars he made of silver, his cushion of gold, his chariot of crimson; It is full of love, from the daughters of Jerusalem. “(Song of Songs 3: 9-10). For the first time in the Land of Israel and in the southern Levant in general, a rare testimony painted in the royal crimson color from the time of Kings David and Solomon was revealed.
As part of a joint study by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University of the textile dye from Timna, which lasted several years, to the surprise of the researchers, remnants of fabric, strand and wool fibers, dyed in royal crimson, were discovered. Carbon dating 14 Direct stated that the finds date to around the year 1,000 BC, the period of David and Solomon in Jerusalem.
The paint, produced from species of snails in the Mediterranean Sea, more than 300 km away from avoidance, is mentioned many times in the Bible.
The study was led by Dr. Naama Sukenik of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef of the Yaakov M. Department of Archeology. Alkov at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Prof. Zohar Amar, Dr. David Iluz, Dr. Alexander Verwak from Bar Ilan University and Dr. Orit Shamir from the Israel Antiquities Authority.
“This is an exciting and very important discovery,” explains Dr. Naama Sukenik, curator of organic finds at the Israel Antiquities Authority. “This is the first time that a piece of fabric from the time of David and Solomon, painted in the prestigious crimson, has been discovered. Crimson attire was attributed in ancient times to nobles, priests and of course kings. The beautiful color of the crimson, the fact that it does not fade and the difficulty in producing the color found in the snail’s body in a tiny quantity – all these made it the most expensive color, whose price was often higher than that of gold. Until the current discovery, we only knew of snail debris and ceramic fragments with paint stains, which were evidence of the crimson industry in the Iron Age, but this is the first time we have direct evidence of the dyed fabrics themselves, which have been preserved for about 3,000 years. ”
Prof. Erez Ben-Yosef from the Department of Archeology at Tel Aviv University said: “A delegation from Tel Aviv University has been digging in Timna continuously since 2013. Thanks to the extreme dryness of the place, we are also able to find organic materials such as fabrics, ropes and skins of the Iron Attack. “Which gives us a unique glimpse into life in biblical times. The preservation in Timna is exceptional, and it is equivalent only to much later sites such as Masada and Bar Kochba Caves.”
He said, “In recent years we have been digging a new site inside Timna called ‘Slave Hill’. The name may be confusing, as the workers there were not slaves at all – but expert deaf people. Timna was a copper production center, the oil of the Iron Age. “Most of the copper production is in the valley and it is full of piles of industrial waste, like slag from smelting furnaces. In one of those piles we found three painted pieces of cloth. The paint immediately caught our eye, but we did not believe we found real crimson from such an early period.”
According to the researchers, real crimson was produced from three species of snails living in the Mediterranean: dull-thorned crimson, single-thorned crimson and red-mouthed crimson. The dye was produced from a gland located in the snail’s body in a complex chemical process that lasted several days.
Today, it is accepted by most researchers that the two prestigious colors, crimson and light blue, were produced from the crimson snail under different light exposure conditions. In light exposure the blue hue is obtained, while without exposure the crimson hue is obtained. These colors are often mentioned side by side in the sources, and both have symbolic and religious significance to this day. The priests in the temple, David and Solomon, all wore, according to the narrator, clothes dyed crimson.
The analytical tests, conducted at Bar Ilan University Laboratories, along with the color reproductions made by Prof. Zohar Amar and Dr. Naama Sukenik, can indicate the species they used to dye Timna fabrics and the shades they wanted to achieve. To Italy, where he cracked thousands of snails, which the Italians eat, and extracted from their dye glands a substance used in hundreds of attempts to reconstruct the early dyeing.
Dr. Sukenik: “Most of the dye fabrics found in Timna, including in archaeological research, were dyed using various plants, which were available and easier to dye. The use of animal dyes is considered much more prestigious, and served as an important parameter, which indicated the economic and social status of the wearer. The remnants of the crimson dyed fabrics found are the oldest not only in Israel, but in the entire southern Levant. In addition, we think we were able to identify in one of the pieces the double-painting method, in which two types of snails were used in an advanced manner, in order to enrich the paint, which was produced and is considered the most prestigious. ”
Prof. Ben-Yosef identifies the site of copper mining in Timna with the biblical kingdom of Edom, which bordered the kingdom of Israel to the south. According to him, the dramatic findings should revolutionize the way we think about nomadic societies throughout the Iron Age.