The name purple is derived from that of a sea snail, mucus from which was boiled down 3,500 years ago to produce a coveted purple-red fabric dye Since the process was time-consuming and labour ...

Nearby, excavations uncovered a pit “filled with crushed purple snail shells,” researchers said. Inside the pit were several stone tools. Archaeologists identified the ruins as a 3,500-year ...

An ancient color called Tyrian purple was the most expensive dye and it was more valued than gold in Ancient Greece, Rome and ...

"These are marine snails and when they are alarmed they release a beautiful purple ink to hide themselves from predators. So these snails are alarmed and release ink, but they aren't physically ...

A rare dye made from snails for the robes of the Roman elite almost 2,000 years ago has been unearthed at a cricket club. The chunk of Tyrian purple, roughly the size of a ping pong ball ...