While the earliest indication of the use of shellfish purple dye in Italy comes from the Early-Middle Bronze Age site of Coppa Nevigata in South Italy, where tens of thousands of mollusc Hexaplex trunculus shells have been excavated, until now none of the surviving pre-Roman textile fragments found in Italy have tested positive for this dye. The paper presents dye test results of mineralised textiles from the necropolis of Strozzacapponi near Perugia, Italy dated to the 2nd-1st centuries BCE. Textiles from several burials preserving traces of pink or purple colour represent the first and earliest direct evidence for the use of shellfish purple for dyeing textiles in Italy. The evidence for shellfish purple production in pre-Roman Italy will be reviewed in the context of this new discovery.
Purple for the Masses? Shellfish purple dyed textiles from the quarry workers’ cemetery at Strozzacapponi (Perugia/Corciano), Italy
Margarita Gleba
;
2017
Abstract
While the earliest indication of the use of shellfish purple dye in Italy comes from the Early-Middle Bronze Age site of Coppa Nevigata in South Italy, where tens of thousands of mollusc Hexaplex trunculus shells have been excavated, until now none of the surviving pre-Roman textile fragments found in Italy have tested positive for this dye. The paper presents dye test results of mineralised textiles from the necropolis of Strozzacapponi near Perugia, Italy dated to the 2nd-1st centuries BCE. Textiles from several burials preserving traces of pink or purple colour represent the first and earliest direct evidence for the use of shellfish purple for dyeing textiles in Italy. The evidence for shellfish purple production in pre-Roman Italy will be reviewed in the context of this new discovery.
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