Dye wood, fungi, and lichens. Most dyes are synthetic, i.e., are man-made from petrochemicals. Other than pigmentation, they have a range of applications including organic dye lasers, optical media (CD-R) and camera sensors (color filter array). Textile dyeing dates back to the Neolithic period. Throughout history, people have dyed their textiles using common, locally available materials. Scarce dyestuffs that produced brilliant and permanent colors such as the natural invertebrate dyes Tyrian purple and crimson kermes were highly prized luxury items in the ancient and medieval world. Plant-based dyes such as woad, indigo, saffron, and madder were important trade goods in the
Natural dye (currently known as "Bolinus brandaris"). Murex dye was greatly prized in antiquity because it did not fade, but instead became brighter and more intense with weathering and sunlight. Murex dyeing may have been developed first by the Minoans of East Crete or the West Semites along the Levantine coast, and heaps of crushed murex shells have been discovered at a number of locations along the eastern Mediterranean dated to the mid-2nd millennium BC. The classical dye known as Phoenician Red was also derived from murex snails. Murex dyes were fabulously expensive – one snail yields but a single drop of