Comments on: Holy snails!

Holy snails!

blahblahblah — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 22:26:42 -0800

A rabbi, some snails, the color purple, and a 1,500 year old mystery. By puzzling through various sources, a group of researchers and religious scholars think they have found in the mollusk Murex trunculus the source of a purplish dye that was used in ancient Jewish ceremonies over a millennia and a half ago. Murex has been used for the last 3,600 years to make Imperial or Tyrian Purple, a key color in the ancient world. There are many other pigments with their own interesting stories as well.

By: PurplePorpoise

PurplePorpoise — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 23:34:12 -0800

Dyes are an interesting thing. Chemically, you want something that will stick with and stay stuck with the material that you want coloured. It's interesting, but not surprising (if a compound with strong electromagnetic absorbtion/reflection qualities can persist in [natural] textile, the odds that it intercalates into DNA isn't low enough to be inconsequential) that a lot of dyes are carcinogenic. IUSYF_*&)hzFSfdh&FKJdosgdf\ *(&FfhSDS;lfudhf0DSfjhdo9d776 Sorry - organic chemistry flashback...

By: dhruva

dhruva — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 23:39:34 -0800

[this is good]

By: darkstar

darkstar — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 05:05:24 -0800

This reminds me of a dig I was participating in back in 2000 in ancient Carthage, arguably the greatest Phoenician colony. The Punic layers of our digs were replete with murex shells. I saved one and have it my souvenir cabinet at home in, of course, Phoenix, Arizona...

By: Wolfdog

Wolfdog — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 06:32:25 -0800

This reminds me of a dig I was participating in back in 2000 in ancient Carthage, I bet you don't get to drop that in conversation just every day, but it must be sweet when you can. Cool post, blah. "Small mollusc of the Tideless Sea" is a front-runner among great first lines of poetry.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 06:46:02 -0800

So somebody finally got around to asking a Palestinian, what a discovery!

By: darkstar

darkstar — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 06:53:44 -0800

By: greatgefilte

greatgefilte — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 06:54:15 -0800

I actually visited the P'til Tekhelet centre when I was in Israel, and got a hands-on demonstration of the dye extraction process. Fascinating stuff! (I especially liked the part where they asked me to cut out the dye gland of the Murex -- it's tiny!)

By: shoepal

shoepal — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 07:03:13 -0800

nice post! thanks.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 07:33:14 -0800

Oh, and despite my little ribbing, nice post, thanks!

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 07:37:03 -0800

Very interesting.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 07:48:00 -0800

This is a fantastic book about colours and also mentions murex. I liked the section about cochineal better though... those little bugs have some wierd history.

By: JeffK

JeffK — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 08:47:29 -0800

Does this mean I have to buy a new tallis?

By: LeeJay

LeeJay — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 09:37:44 -0800

This is a great post! Thanks. I've always been fascinated by natural dyes.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 10:09:55 -0800

Does this mean I have to buy a new tallis? Come mister tallit man tally me banana...

By: Dr. Wu

Dr. Wu — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 17:00:19 -0800

Terrific post.