Colored dyes were a significant commodity in the Mediterranean region during the Late Bronze Age.
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Berger et al. unearthed a purple-dye workshop in Area K10 (marked in red) in the Bronze Age Outer Suburb, Aegina Kolonna. Image credit: Berger et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304340.
The small island of Aegina is located in the center of the Saronic Gulf, between Attica, the Peloponnese, and the central Aegean Sea.
The island has played a significant role in the cultural history of the Aegean for thousands of years.
From Neolithic until Byzantine times (approximately 6th millennium BCE to 10th century CE), the main settlement at Aegina was situated on a small, well-protected promontory on the north-western coast, called Cape Kolonna.
In the 2nd millennium BCE, this densely built and strongly fortified settlement experienced a period of economic prosperity and cultural heyday.
Representative buildings, exceptional finds and rich graves indicate a complex economically stable social system integrated into an interregional trade network and the emerging cultures of the Middle and Late Bronze Age Aegean.
In a new paper in the journal PLoS ONE, Dr. Lydia Berger from the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg and her colleagues describe the site of a purple dye workshop from the 16th century BCE located at Aegina Kolonna.
The presence of the workshop is inferred from three main lines of evidence: purple pigment preserved on ceramic fragments, which are likely remnants of dye containers; dyeing tools, including grinding stones and a waste pit; and crushed shells of marine snails whose bodies are harvested for these pigments.
Analysis of the shells and the chemical composition of the pigments indicate that the workshop predominantly used a species of Mediterranean snail called the banded dye-murex (Hexaplex trunculus).
The excavations at the site also uncovered many burnt bones from young mammals, mainly piglets and lambs.
The archaeologists hypothesize that these could be the remains of animals ritually sacrificed as spiritual offerings to protect the site of production, a practice known from other cultural sites, although the exact connection between these bones and the dye production is not yet fully clear.
This site provides valuable insights into the tools and processes of Mycenaean purple dye production.
Further research might reveal more information about the scale of dye production at Aegina Kolonna, the details of the on-site procedures, and the use of this dye in regional trade.
“For the first time, the discovery of remarkable quantities of well-preserved pigment, together with a large number of crushed mollusk shells and a few functional facilities, allow a detailed insight into the production of purple-dye on the Greek island of Aegina around 3,600 years ago,” the researchers said.
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L. Berger et al. 2024. More than just a color: Archaeological, analytical, and procedural aspects of Late Bronze Age purple-dye production at Cape Kolonna, Aegina. PLoS ONE 19 (6): e0304340; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304340
