TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - The contribution of material analysis to the identification of forged writing materials N2 - This paper addresses the role of material analysis in the current discussion on the authenticity of unprovenanced fragments. It will show that material analysis alone, especially its non-destructive variety, cannot prove that the object is genuine. The best material analysis can do, after all appropriate tests have been conducted, is to announce that nothing has been found that contradicts the assumption of genuineness. Moreover, the results of the material analysis can never be used as the only justification of authentication in cases of composite objects such as manuscripts or epigraphs. The most effective approach for testing suspicious artifacts has been established by forensic science. Not limited to non-invasive analysis, this approach relies on validated techniques that usually require the extraction of samples and comparison with reference materials and are capable of delivering unambiguous results. In contrast, the analysis of suspicious manuscripts has to overcome additional obstacles such as the heterogeneity of historical material, the scarcity of suitable reference standards, and restriction to strictly non-invasive techniques. We discuss the reliability of the testing protocol based on the non-destructive multi-instrumental approach developed by the BAM for the investigation of writing materials. In the case of the DSS, it relies on comparison with the genuine DSS fragments studied over the last 10 years. T2 - SBL Interenational 2017 CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 07.08.2017 KW - Cultural assets KW - Forgery PY - 2017 AN - OPUS4-43481 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -