In ancient roman times, anybody could wear this special purple which wasn't really purple. It was sort of it was described as the color of clotted blood a roman. And by the way, still smelled even after the dying. Inkins were amazing weavers m and one of the things as famous about them is that they kept records on knotted threads called kepoo andthes. The knowledge of how to interpret these records has largely died out but people are making advances in trying to decipher them.