Discovery of 3,800-year-old artifact mentioned in Bible story

5/28/25 

“Archaeologists have discovered a rare artifact that is found throughout the Bible's Old Testament. They discovered a 3,800-year-old textile colored with 'scarlet worm,' a dye that is mentioned 25 times in scripture, in a cave in Israel. The red dye was created from the carcasses and eggs of an insect, which people would grind up into a power to color garments.

The textile featured woolen threads dyed red, which had been weaved through uncolored linen threads to form a lattice-like design.

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the findings on Thursday, after finding the less than two-centimeter textile hiding in the 'Cave of Skulls' in the Judean Desert. The 'scarlet worm' mentioned in the Bible is a scale insect, which lives in oak trees, with the main species of the ancient world being Kermes.

The females and their eggs produce carminic acid, which gives the dye its red color. People would collect the bugs, sprinkle them with vinegar, dry out the carcasses and then grind the remains into a powder used to color cloth and garments. 'The red hue, ranging from orange to pink and crimson, has held significant historical symbolism and importance, the team shared in the study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Archaeological Science.

'The red color from the scale insects which are based on molecules such as kermesic acid or carminic acid are both stable and beautiful, making them much more prestigious than vegetal dye sources.'

The scarlet dye is known as as shani or tola’at shani in Hebrew (meaning crimson worm) and is featured throughout the Old Testament either alone or in conjunction with other precious dyes, including the blue and purple dyes from marine snails.

In Leviticus 14:16 states: 'As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird killed over the running water.'

The deep red color is also mentioned in Exodus a handful of times, specifically in Chapter 26, verse 1: 'Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker.'”

Discovery of 3,800-year-old artifact mentioned in Bible story