Tyrian purple was a highly prized pigment developed ... One estimate said it could take upward of 12,000 snails to get 1 gram of dye. But modern experiments have shown that fewer snails can ...

A rare dye made from snails for the robes of the Roman elite almost 2,000 years ago has been unearthed at a cricket club. The chunk of Tyrian purple, roughly the size of a ping pong ball ...

The much sought-after source of purple dye came from one of the glands of a sea snail called the murex. This particular shade, known as Tyrian, was unusual because it didn’t fade and became more ...

In Tunisia, Mohamed cracks and scrapes at snails to make authentic Tyrian purple dye. Farther south in Uganda, Akello pounds and grinds nuts by hand to make silky, luxurious East African shea butter.