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www.tekhelet.info
This site is devoted to information about scientific and Jewish research regarding tekhelet תכלת, the ancient dye that was made in the Mediterranean lands for dyeing wool and silk. It was one of the most lucrative industries in Antiquity. The dye was produced from a marine shellfish species named banded dye-murex (Murex trunculus, חילזון קהה-הקוצים, ), that is native to Mediterranean Sea shallows.
The information is presented largely as research papers and articles written by Dr. Israel Irving Ziderman of Jerusalem, Israel.
Four exciting breakthroughs in our knowledge of tekhelet have been reported recently:
1. The main dyestuff of tekhelet dyes has now been discovered.
Its main and characteristic ingredient is a novel dyestuff named 6-monobromo-indigotin (MBI), in admixture with the two previously-known components 6,6'-dibromo-indigotin (DBI) and indigotin.
DBI is purple ארגמן, that is also the dye produced from all species of dye-shellfish, besides banded dye-murex.
Indigotin is a blue, that is also the vegetable dyes woad and indigo (קלא אילן).
Currently, we have been investigating the unique chemistry of MBI, which - when heated to 60 degrees C - changes irreversibly from its initial violet colour to blue, without any alteration in its chemical structure and composition.
2. The millennium-old mystery of how tekhelet was dyed has now been unravelled by Edmonds and Boesken-Kanold.
It is a unique bacterial fermentation taking a week, that converts the dye to a soluble form, which readily dyes wool to tekhelet.
This natural process is spontaneous; and it has been restored to work in practice.
3. Variations in the dye colour obtained with different specimens of banded dye-murex are now attributed to the size (i.e.the age) of the snail.
The younger individuals largely give blues, while the older ones mostly give purples.
Accordingly, use smaller shellfish to get a tekhelet colour!
4. In High Priestly residences excavated in Temple-era Jerusalem, intact shells of banded dye-murex have been uncovered.
This finding indicates that the shells were treasured as prestigious objects. Perhaps these shells were prized as revered symbols of the sacred goods made from them.
But not only for tekhelet! Opercula ציפורן of this shellfish also were evidently used to make the onycha שחלת ingredient of the Holy Incense קטורת (Exod. 30, 34).
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