Greece & Rome · Late 3rd–early 4th century AD · York, North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Roman babies in York were buried in Tyrian purple cloth, one with gold thread
Chemical tests on gypsum burial casings held by York Museums Trust give the first confirmed evidence of the costly imperial dye on Roman textiles from York.
Official announcement
York, United Kingdom Two infants buried in Roman York in the late 3rd or early 4th century AD were wrapped in cloth dyed with Tyrian purple. The dye was one of the costliest materials in the Roman world. One of the textiles was also decorated with gold thread.
Researchers at the University of York identified traces of the dye on gypsum casings from the two burials. The casings are held in the collections of York Museums Trust. This is the first confirmed evidence of Tyrian purple on Roman textile remains from York. It is also one of only a few examples from Roman Britain.
The work is part of Seeing the Dead, a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Professor Maureen Carroll of the university's Department of Archaeology directs it. The project studies a burial custom found in Roman Yorkshire in the 3rd and 4th centuries.
In this custom, liquid gypsum (a form of plaster) was poured over clothed and shrouded bodies inside their coffins. As it hardened, the gypsum kept impressions and fragments of cloth. It also kept chemical traces of the dyes and other substances in the fibres, which would normally have decayed. The team also records the casings with 3D imaging.
One infant in a stone sarcophagus, one in a lead coffin
The first infant lay between the legs of two adults inside a stone sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is now on display at the Yorkshire Museum. The second infant was buried alone in a lead coffin, and this burial preserves more detail.
The researchers identified at least two textile layers. Directly over the body was a cloak or fringed mantle, possibly laid over linen bandages. On top of that was a fine fabric dyed with Tyrian purple and worked with gold thread.
The team thinks this outer cloth would have stayed visible during the funeral until the lid was closed. Too little fabric survives to reconstruct the garment. Even so, the researchers say it was made to be seen.
Dr Jennifer Wakefield, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Archaeology, led the chemical analysis. The team scraped very small samples of coloured plaster from the surface of both burials. They then extracted organic residues with solvents. The resulting solution, about 50 microlitres, was blue, a hint that dye was present.
Next, liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry detected 6,6-dibromoindigo. This is the main compound of Tyrian purple and the accepted biomarker for identifying it. A modern reference sample gave an identical signal. The dye turned up even where no purple colour was clearly visible to the naked eye.
Dr Adam Parker, curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum, said the method had drawn previously invisible information from the museum's designated archaeology collection. He said the work with the university was giving new insights into Roman York.
A dye made from sea snails and priced like gold
Tyrian purple takes its name from Tyre, the Phoenician city in present-day Lebanon. It was made from murex sea snails, mainly Bolinus brandaris. The dye came either from crushing thousands of the snails or from removing their hypobranchial glands to collect a secretion. Pliny the Elder described this process in his Natural History.
In his price edict of AD 301, the emperor Diocletian set the value of a Roman pound of purple-dyed silk at 150,000 denarii. That was the equivalent of three Roman pounds of gold. Roman writers describe emperors, senators, triumphant generals and aristocrats dressed in purple at their funerals.
According to Carroll, the find confirms that the dye was used in Roman York, known as Eboracum. It also shows that the town's wealthiest inhabitants could obtain exotic goods from the far reaches of the empire.
Carroll also sees in the find evidence of how children were valued. Roman tradition and early legal codes forbade parents from publicly mourning their babies. At the time, around three in ten infants died before their first birthday.
Carroll said the burials reveal a family's wish to give a baby an exceptional farewell. The team counts them among a growing body of evidence against the assumption that Romans did not grieve for the very young.
Few comparable textiles are known from Britain. The best-known parallel is the burial of the Spitalfields woman in Roman London. Her grave included a silk damask garment with purple-dyed wool bands and gold thread. One report describes the purple there as probable Tyrian purple.
In Gaul, high-status graves of the 3rd and 4th centuries have produced similar cloth. At Jaunay-Clan, a child aged between 11 and 14 was wrapped in dyed wool and silk. A burial at Naintré included gold-thread decoration.
At Autun, a large purple textile with gold bands was found in a 4th-century lead coffin. The bands bear floral or plant motifs. The textile is now being conserved.
In the coming months, Seeing the Dead will take further samples from gypsum casings from York and other sites in North Yorkshire. The team wants to look for more dye residues.
Sources
- Two Roman Babies Were Buried in York with Imperial Purple and Gold, a Luxury Reserved for Emperors (La Brújula Verde)
- Rare Roman Britain Find: Babies in York Were Buried in Imperial Purple Cloth (Arkeonews)
- Roman York infants buried in rare purple and gold cloth linked to elite families, study finds (Archaeology News)
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