Once the secretion is collected, it is then boiled in salt water to create the dye. There are archaeological site throughout the Mediterranean studying murex fragments from the coast in understanding the ancient dying techniques developed (Stieglitz 1994). Additional studies have taken place but with the inclusion of bioanalytical and chemical research. These methods overlap to assist with archaeological dating of the colour purple to the third century CE (Devièse 2011). With this research, it was used to demonstrate the wide popularity of the colour, in a range of amounts, within the Roman Empire through such chemical testing in the context of funerary sites. The difficulty of these studies to understand murex dye in antiquity is of its own challenge and bringing the topic as a whole to another status.
Going into depth on how the dye is made and the archaeological studies around the dye contributes to the overall significance the colour holds in antiquity. In understanding this extreme process, is to thereby approach an understanding of the significance of the dye in relation to power within the Imperial Roman Empire. The application of the colour purple in ancient Roman social order weighs heavily to the codification of the classes. Within the specific social class that could obtain the dye, were specifically involved in politics. This translated to the amount of purple used on the robes indicated a hierarchical social status (Elliott 2008).