*5.4. Other Uses of Shellfish Purple*

In a recently published report, shellfish purple was identified by XRF and HPLC in a mass of clay material, which was stored within a compartment of a small case [113]. The lidded box was found in the grave B of Derveni (Macedonia, Greece) dated to the 4th century BCE, together with other goods, including the famous Derveni krater and a gold coin of Philip II. Based on the current archaeological data, related with other metal cases that have been unearthed in Macedonian burials, it is estimated that the content of the Derveni metal case was probably used for medical purposes [113]. If true, then this is the first scientific evidence about the medical use of shellfish purple in antiquity. It is noteworthy, that recent studies revealed that mollusks from the family Muricidae produce biological active compounds with anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, muscle-relaxing and pain relieving properties as well as steroidogenic activity [114,115]. Some of these properties are found in the Murex extracts and have been known since antiquity [116].

The finding in Derveni is not the only one revealing the use of shellfish purple as grave good. Shellfish purple was identified by DE–MS, Raman spectroscopy and HPLC in residues collected from a Gallo-Roman burial (Naintré, France) dated to the 3rd century CE [117]. Purple was widely spread after the deposition of the body for burial, suggesting that the valuable purple grave good was part of the funeral practice [117].

Murex snails and shells have been probably used in jewels, tools and foods [118], as well as in fillers and plasters as discussed next. It was previously described that the chalk base of the Akrotiri–Santorini pigment was rich in aragonite, indicating that this was probably obtained from crushed Murex shells [43]. Shell fragments of mollusks are sometimes visible in plaster surfaces, dated from the Middle Bronze Age onwards [118,119]. Murex shells in the perimeter of the 5th century BCE wall of Hermione, Greece are shown in the photograph of Figure 8. Moreover, results provided from experimental archaeology demonstrated that Murex shells can be used as a raw material for lime making, but that this is not necessarily visible in its end product if done thoroughly and properly [118]. Consequently, the use of Murex shells in the lime plaster production process can be older than the reported visible archaeological evidence. Murex species might have been used to add color in plaster, as suggested by XRD analysis in painted plaster samples from Gla, Greece [120]. XRD lead to the

identification of aragonite in the investigated plaster samples, but the presence of Murex was not confirmed by SEM–EDX [120] or Raman [121] results.

**Figure 8.** Murex shells used as binder in the wall of Hermione, next to the Bisti area where the famous local dyeing workshops were located (photograph by V. Gatsos).
