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“Incredibly rare” ancient purple dye that was once worth more than gold found in U.K.
Archaelogists working in England found an “mysterious lump” of a purple substance that in Roman times would have been worth more than gold, researchers said in a news release.
The researchers who found the “soft purple substance” are working on a yearslong investigation of Roman remains in Carlisle, England, a cathedral city in the center of the country. The dig is being led by Wardell Armstrong, an environmental, engineering and mining company based in the U.K.
The substance was found during a 2023 excavation of a Roman bathhouse. The remains of the third-century building exist on the grounds of what is now a cricket club, according to the news release.
The team worked with the British Geological Society to test the material. Experts from Newcastle University provided further analysis and determined that it is an organic pigment containing levels of bromine and beeswax, according to the release.
Wardell Armstrong
These ingredients allowed researchers to identify the substance as “Tyrian Purple,” the color that the Roman Empire associated with its imperial court. The pigment is made from thousands of crushed seashells from the Mediterranean, North Africa and Morocco, according to the release, and was “phenomenally difficult” to make and expensive to produce, making it worth more than gold at the time.
The discovery of the material has led researchers to believe that the building under excavation was related to the court and may have even meant that the Roman emperor at the time, Septimius Severus, had visited Carlisle. Frank Giecco, the technical director of the organization leading the excavation project, said it is an “incredibly rare” find, especially in Europe.
“It’s the only example we know of in Northern Europe – possibly the only example of a solid sample of the pigment in the form of unused paint pigment anywhere in the Roman Empire,” Giecco said in the release. “Examples have been found of it in wall paintings (like in Pompeii) and some high status painted coffins from the Roman province of Egypt.”
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Vatican excommunicates ex-ambassador to U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, declares him guilty of schism
A firebrand conservative who became one of Pope Francis’ most ardent critics has been excommunicated by the Vatican.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who once served as the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., was found guilty of schism. The Vatican’s doctrine office imposed the penalty after a meeting of its members on Thursday, a press statement said Friday.
The office cited Viganò’s “refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff, his rejection of communion with the members of the church subject to him and of the legitimacy and magisterial authority of the Second Vatican Council,” as its reasoning for the ruling.
Viganò, who retired in 2016 at age 75 and was the papal envoy in Washington from 2011-2026, convulsed the Holy See with accusations of sex abuse in 2018, calling on Francis to resign.
Patrick Semansky/AP
In an 11-page letter, Viganò claimed that in 2013 he told Francis of the allegations of sex abuse against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. But, he wrote, the pontiff ignored that, and allowed McCarrick to continue to serve the church for another five years publicly. He said the pope should resign and subsequently branded him a “false prophet” and a “servant of Satan.”
In the letter, Viganò also made a number of ideological claims and was critical of homosexuals within Church ranks. He did not offer any proof for his statements.
The Vatican rejected the accusation of a cover-up of sexual misconduct and last month summoned Viganò to answer charges of schism and denying the pope’s legitimacy.
Viganò, who regarded the accusations “as an honor,” said he refused to take part in the disciplinary proceedings because he did not accept the legitimacy of the institutions behind it.
“I do not recognize the authority of the tribunal that claims to judge me, nor of its Prefect, nor of the one who appointed him,” he said in a statement issued last week, referring to the head of the doctrinal office, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, and to Francis.
Viganò restated his rejection of Vatican Council II, calling it “the ideological, theological, moral and liturgical cancer of which the (Francis’) ‘synod church’ is the necessary metastasis.”
He had not yet commented on the Vatican’s ruling on Friday.
McCarrick, the ex-archbishop of Washington, D.C., was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after an internal Vatican investigation found he sexually molested adults as well as children.
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The U.S. jobs market cooled in June but remains solid, raising the odds that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by year-end.
The economy added 206,00 jobs last month, in line with analyst forecasts, and unemployment edged up to 4.1%. The data follows a surprisingly strong 272,000 increase in May.
A modest slowdown in hiring and wage growth could increase the Fed’s confidence that inflation is trending closer to its 2% annual target, opening the door for policymakers to trim borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
—This is a developing story.
Vatican excommunicates ex-ambassador to U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, declares him guilty of schism
Israel says it’s restarting stalled negotiations for a cease-fire deal in Gaza
Hiring in the U.S. slowed in June, raising hopes for interest rate cuts
Vatican excommunicates ex-ambassador to U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, declares him guilty of schism
Israel says it’s restarting stalled negotiations for a cease-fire deal in Gaza