A new analysis shows that three scraps of fabric found in Israeli caves had been dyed indigo, purple and crimson — the hues of Roman royalty — using sea snail ink some 2,000 years ago.

It took tens of thousands of desiccated hypobranchial glands, wrenched from the calcified coils of spiny murex sea snails before being dried and boiled, to colour even a single small swatch of ...

Not only is this regal murex seasnail shell stunning in appearance, but the stark contrast between the inner and outer shell highlights the complexity of seashell formation.

Years later, he noticed a dead murex on the beach and recalling his history classes decided to experiment with ways of making the dye. "From that time I started my adventure," he said.