“This superfamily includes species such as Kermes, cochineal, and lac-insects…all of which were well-known in the ancient world for their ability to produce vibrant red colors.”
The small insects are native to the Mediterranean region. They can produce a red color due to the presence of carminic acid or kermesic acid molecules in their bodies.
According to Na’ama Sukenik, the lead author of the study and curator of the Organic Material Collection at the Israel Antiquities Authority, the dye was produced from the female scale insect.
There was only a short window of time to collect the bugs for dye. They had to be collected during one month in the summer after the female laid her eggs but before they hatched. This was when the most amount of dye could be procured from them.
“The short period in which the Kermes could be collected, the difficulty in finding them due to their small size (between three to eight millimeters) and the camouflage colors that make it difficult to locate them, as well as the small amount of dye that can be produced from them—and on the other hand, the beautiful red hue that can be produced from them for dyeing textiles—made their use highly prestigious.”
It is unclear what the textiles were used for or who brought them to the cave. Although these questions have been left unanswered, the discovery still provided a wealth of information on ancient textile dyeing.
