Jerusalem, 17 April, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Archaeologists have uncovered the first physical evidence of tools used to produce scarlet dye at Tel Shikmona, shedding light on a highly organized, large-scale luxury industry that helped fuel the economic rise of the ancient Kingdom of Israel, researchers at Haifa University announced on Thursday.

The findings, detailed in the peer-reviewed PLOS One journal reveal that the coastal site was not just a craft center but a commercial production hub — an operation sophisticated enough to support regional trade, royal patronage, and even the First Temple in Jerusalem.

“This is the first time that we can reconstruct the shape of the tools used in the scarlet dye industry and how they were used in the production and dyeing process,” said Dr. Golan Shlavey, who led the research on behalf of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at the University of Haifa and the University of Chicago. Alongside Prof. Ayelet Gilboa of the University of Haifa, Shlavey and his team identified large dye-stained clay basins, grinding stones, and other tools that offer direct evidence of the dyeing process during the Iron Age, between 1100-600 BCE.