TY - CHAP A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Hahn, Oliver ED - Michel, C. ED - Friedrich, M. T1 - Detection of Fakes: The Merits and Limits of Non-Invasive Materials Analysis T2 - Studies in Manuscript Cultures N2 - This paper addresses the sensitive issue of authenticating unprovenanced manuscripts of high monetary value to certify they are genuine. Over the last decade, the popularity of material studies of manuscripts using non-destructive testing (NDT) has increased enormously. These studies are held in especially high esteem in the case of suspicious writings due to the methodological rigour they are reputed to contribute to debate. We would like to stress that materials analysis alone cannot prove that an object is genuine. Unfortunately, audiences with a humanities background often tend to disregard the technical details and treat any published interpretation of instrumental analysis as an objective finding. Four examples are outlined here to illustrate what questionable contributions the natural sciences can make in describing manuscripts that have actually been forged. KW - Fakes KW - Non-invasive analysis KW - Limitations PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-517202 SN - 978-3-11-071422-7 DO - https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110714333 SN - 2365-9696 VL - 20 SP - 281 EP - 290 PB - Walter de Gruyter GmbH CY - Berlin/Boston AN - OPUS4-51720 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Gaining Perspective into the Materiality of Manuscripts: The Contribution of Archaeometry to the Study of the Inks of the White Monastery Codices T2 - Coptic Literature in Context (4th-13th cent.): Cultural Landscape, Literary Production, and Manuscript Archaeology N2 - An interdisciplinary approach to the study of manuscript traditions is here applied to the analysis of the leaves from the White Monastery, one of the greatest centres of literary production in Late Antique Egypt. In the framework of the ‘PAThs’ project, archaeometric analyses complement the information pieced together by a range of disciplines in the field of humanities. The use of different complementary analytical techniques provides information on the type of ink used and its elemental composition, unveiling interesting details regarding the materials and methodology of manufacturing of writing media. Moreover, this contribution takes a step forward and discusses the possible existence of a regional arrangement in the elemental composition revealed in the inks studied. KW - Manuscript making KW - Archaeometry KW - Ink analysis KW - Interdisciplinary approach KW - Coptic studies PY - 2020 SP - 273 EP - 282 AN - OPUS4-51003 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -