Israeli researchers recently published an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports in which they identify the source of the red dye used in a 3,800-year-old piece of cloth discovered in 2016 in a cave in the Judean Desert. The researchers used a test called high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and identified the origin of the dye as an insect called Kermes vermilio, which is found on the kermes oak tree. In the ancient world, the female insects were collected during one month in the summer, after they had laid their eggs but before the eggs hatched, since this was when they had the most dye in their bodies. The researchers further connected this insect with the biblical “scarlet worm.” In the Old Testament, the words tola’at hashani are sometimes translated as “worm” (ie. Dt 28:39) and sometimes as “crimson,” as in Isaiah 1:18: Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson (tola), they shall become like wool (ESV). The scarlet color from this insect was also to be used in the making of the priestly garments (Ex 28). In an article in Israel Hayom (see link below), Professor Zohar Amar of Bar-Ilan University described the specified zoological knowledge recorded in the Bible: “The biblical association of this color with a living creature demonstrates impressive zoological knowledge, considering that female scale insects lack legs and wings, to the extent that some Greek and Roman naturalists even mistook them for plant granules.”
OFF-SITE LINKS:
- https://www.timesofisrael.com/tiny-3800-year-old-textile-found-in-israel-was-dyed-with-biblical-scarlet-worm/
- https://www.israelhayom.com/2024/07/18/discovery-of-ancient-textile-fragment-sheds-light-on-priestly-garments/
Read more BREAKING NEWS articles here: https://biblearchaeology.org/current-events-list
