New evidence on purple dye production from the Bronze Age settlement of Coppa Nevigata (Apulia, Italy)

Evidence related to the gathering of murex for purple-dye production at the Bronze Age settlement of Coppa Nevigata (Apulia, Italy) is considerable, as discussed elsewhere. Previous studies have shown that the processing of purple-dye possibly started from the 19-18th centuries BCE and continued throughout the entire Bronze Age, reaching its highest peak in the Middle Bronze Age (15th-14th c. BCE), and then decreasing in the Late Bronze Age (13th – 12th c. BCE). The variation in the amount of crushed murex shells at the site in the different periods is likely to be linked to the exchange network with the eastern Mediterranean, where purple-dye was much appreciated. Nonetheless, we cannot rule out that the disparity of the murex shell proportion per period also results from some biases, such as the different extent and volume of the deposits unearthed for each period. In view of a better understanding of the dynamics of purple-dye production and defining of the use of murex shells through time, new data from the on-going excavations at the settlement (seasons 1983-2005) are presented. Specific attention is paid to deposition process and contextual detail of shell assemblages, as well as to the "shell fragments/estimated soil removed" ratio, in order to evaluate to what extent bias factors could have affected the significance of the samples.