Murex Trunculus snail found in Har Habayit sifting project

The Temple Mount Sifting Project, where they sift through the dirt and rubble removed from Temple Mount by the Arabs from their construction projects, has posted on its website the discovery of a number of shells of the Murex Trunculus snail.

Being that such snails are generally found along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and not inland, they suspect there might have been a dye producing "factory" on site or very nearby for the purpose of producing the argaman (purplish hue) and tekhelet (sky blue hue) dyes for the various needs of the Temple, as these two color dyes are both produced from the Murex snail.

It is not a great proof that the murex is the true source of the tekhelet, as perhaps it was only used for the argaman and not the tekhelet, but this discovery can definitely be added to the long list compiled by the Ptil Tekhelet organization as strong indicators of being the true source.

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