Israel Antiquities Authority researcher Dr. Na‘ama Sukenik has identified three pieces of fabric found in Judean Desert Caves (Wadi Murabba‘at caves) as being dyed using the Murex Trunculus Snail. All three date back to the Roman period.
Two of these also used a second dye obtained from Cochineal insects;
this gave these fabrics purple borders. These were woven in
characteristic manner of imported textiles.
The third piece of fabric was made of wool and woven in the fashion of locally spun textiles. This fabric had been dyed using only the Murex Snail. The importance of this find lies in a doctoral thesis authored by Rabbi Herezog in 1913 naming Murex Trunculus as the most likely candidate for the source of the blue, or "tekhelet", colour to be used in Tzitzit. The material has to be exposed to sunlight or heated after having been dyed, which results in a shade of blue. This is the first time that a fabric dated to the Roman period and dyed blue in this way has been found in Israel.
In the 1980s, Otto Elsner a chemist from the Shenkar College of Fibers in Israel, discovered that exposing a solution of this dye to ultraviolet rays, such as from sunlight, produced a blue colour, instead of purple. In 1988, Rabbi Eliyahu Tavger dyed "tekhelet" from M.trunculus for the mitzvah (commandment) of tzitzit for the first time in recent history. Four years later an organisation, named "Ptil Tekhelet" was founded to educate about this type of dye production and to make the dye more generally available.
"Tekhelet" is spoken of in Scripture as a blue that even ordinary Israelites were commanded to tie as one string to the corner fringes of their garments. This was to act as a constant reminder of their special relationship with God”. Numbers 15:38–39 tells of this:
The third piece of fabric was made of wool and woven in the fashion of locally spun textiles. This fabric had been dyed using only the Murex Snail. The importance of this find lies in a doctoral thesis authored by Rabbi Herezog in 1913 naming Murex Trunculus as the most likely candidate for the source of the blue, or "tekhelet", colour to be used in Tzitzit. The material has to be exposed to sunlight or heated after having been dyed, which results in a shade of blue. This is the first time that a fabric dated to the Roman period and dyed blue in this way has been found in Israel.
In the 1980s, Otto Elsner a chemist from the Shenkar College of Fibers in Israel, discovered that exposing a solution of this dye to ultraviolet rays, such as from sunlight, produced a blue colour, instead of purple. In 1988, Rabbi Eliyahu Tavger dyed "tekhelet" from M.trunculus for the mitzvah (commandment) of tzitzit for the first time in recent history. Four years later an organisation, named "Ptil Tekhelet" was founded to educate about this type of dye production and to make the dye more generally available.
"Tekhelet" is spoken of in Scripture as a blue that even ordinary Israelites were commanded to tie as one string to the corner fringes of their garments. This was to act as a constant reminder of their special relationship with God”. Numbers 15:38–39 tells of this:
"Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of each border a cord of blue: and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of YHVH, and do them; and that ye follow not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye used to play the harlot."
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