TY - JOUR A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Bonnerot, Olivier A1 - Buzi, P. A1 - Krutzsch, M. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Friedrich, M. ED - Quenzer, J. ED - Wandrey, I. T1 - An Attempt at a Systematic study of inks from Coptic manuscripts N2 - It is well documented that throughout Antiquity, ancient Egyptians used mostly carbon inks as a writing material. In Late Antiquity, some metals started to be added to carbon based inks. We have records of five manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls collection whose carbon inks were found to contain copper Also, lead was recently found as an additive in carbon inks on a charred fragment from Herculaneum. Furthermore, the earliest evidence of iron-gall ink was found in the Book of Proverbs (Codex Ms. Berol. orient. oct. 987) dating to the third fourth centuries ce. It has been suggested that along with carbon and iron-gall inks, there is no reason to think that purely tannin inks were not also in use in Egypt. However, so far, we just have evidence of a copper-tannin ink identified in a number of documents from Egypt in the first third centuries bce. In an attempt to fill this gap in this extremely fragmented scenario during our studies of the socio-geographic history of inks, we arrived at the conclusion that the continuous production of Coptic manuscripts from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages offers a unique opportunity for the historical study of inks across a large geographic area. KW - Archaeometry KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Inks PY - 2018 SN - 1867-9617 VL - 2018 IS - 11 SP - 157 EP - 163 PB - Universität Hamburg CY - Hamburg AN - OPUS4-45817 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Steger, Simon A1 - Stege, Heike A1 - Hahn, Oliver T1 - In-situ spectroscopic analysis of modern reverse paintings on glass (1905-1955) N2 - The technique of painting on the reverse side of a glass panel was rediscovered by German artists at the beginning of the 20th century. In contrast to other paint techniques (e.g. panel and mural painting), the paint layers are applied in reverse succession starting with the foremost paint layer and ending with the primer (backmost layer). The paintings are viewed in reflected light, thus revealing an impressive gloss, luminosity and depth of colour. The artist group “Der Blaue Reiter” (the Blue Rider) around W. Kandinsky and F. Marc got in touch with this technique in the summers of 1908 and 1909 and spread their knowledge in different regions. Our pioneering project is tracing this transfer of knowledge by a multidisciplinary approach in terms of art history, painting technology and material science. More than 100 artists and >1000 reverse paintings on glass (1905-1955) were identified during the project. This numbers clearly point out that this technique was by far more important for modern art than previously assumed. In-situ, non-invasive measurements (XRF, Raman, VIS, DRIFTS) on a well-considered selection of 67 paintings reveal the broad palette of colorants ranging from traditional to experimental materials. Special attention is paid on artists who are strongly connected to Berlin. Demonstrative examples by W. Dexel, G. Muche and L. Hildebrandt are used to discuss analytical challenges and highlights. T2 - Young Researchers in Archaeometry (YRA) 2nd Workshop CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 23.09.2018 KW - Raman spectroscopy KW - DRIFTS KW - Reverse glass painting PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46066 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Bonnerot, Olivier A1 - Schlanger, J. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Composition analysis of writing materials in Geniza fragments N2 - The Cairo Geniza is an “archive” discovered in the 19th century in Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, a district in Old Cairo (Egypt), located south of the center of modern Cairo. The giant collection of mostly Jewish documents that vary in genres, languages and writing supports contains a large number of early medieval Hebrew manuscripts, mostly in fragmentary form. The larger part of the Cairo Geniza is stored today in the Cambridge University Library (CUL). The Geniza provides sources for the literary, linguistic, historical studies of the various aspects Jewish life. As the documents attest, at least two Jewish communities co-existed in Fustat up to 11th century: a so-called Babylonian and Palestinian. These communities had different leaders, different traditions and lived independently. The differences seem to manifest themselves also in the paleographical, codicological and some material properties of the manuscripts produced by each community. The aim of this project is to compare the inks used in the Jewish documents depending on different variables: support (paper, parchment), purpose of the manuscript (legal, private, religious), provenance of the scribe. For the determination of the inks type and composition we had to choose non-invasive, non-destructive and portable techniques to analyse the corpus directly in the CUL. The analyses were carried out with a mobile energy dispersive micro-X-ray spectrometer ArtTAX® (Bruker GmbH, Berlin, Germany), which consists of an air-cooled, low-power molybdenum tube, polycapillary X-ray optics (measuring spot size 70 µm in diameter), an electrothermally cooled Xflash detector, and a CCD camera for sample positioning (Bronk et al 2001, Hahn et al. 2010). All measurements are executed using a 30 W low-power Mo tube, 50 kV, 600 µA Mo tube, and with an acquisition time of 15 s (live time) to minimize the risk of damage (Fig. 1, 2). Fig. 1: XRF spectrometer probe above a manuscript fragment Fig. 2: Typical element profile of a XRF linescan The Dino Lite digital stereomicroscope (Fig. 3) features built-in LED illumination at 395 nm and 940 nm and a customized external white light source. During use, the microscope is fastened to a small tripod or mounted on a Plexiglas ring holder that incorporates a white light source. Fig. 3: Dino Lite digital stereomicroscope Fig. 4: Details of one fragment (T-S 16.124) observed with the Dino microscope (x20). On the left, when illuminated with NIR (Near-Infrared, 940 nm) light, the ink fades, indicating iron-gall ink. On the right, the image under NIR light does not change. It is carbon ink. On example of these studies is the manuscript T-S 16.124 (Cambridge University Library, Fig. 5) whom belongs to the third corpus. It is a deed, written in Hebrew, dated from 1328 (= 1017 CE) and witnessed by a very high number of people (6) comparing to the standard of similar documents (between 2 and 3), from at least two different Jewish communities in Fustat (trans congregational). The verso is written in Arabic (Bareket 1999). Fig. 5: Manuscript T-S 16.124 (Cambridge University Library) To compare the inks, we used the fingerprint model. This method relies on the determination of characteristic elemental compositions and represents the amount of a minor constituent relative to the main component, iron in iron gall ink (Malzer et al. 2004, Hahn et al. 2004, Rabin et al 2014). However, a calculation of a fingerprint based on XRF measurements is not possible in the case of carbon ink since carbon, its main component, cannot be detected with this technique. Fig. 6: Ink fingerprint T-S 16-124 (recto) normalized to iron (Fe) Conclusion We show that using reflectography and XRF analysis it is possible to sort the inks according to their type. In the case of the iron-gall inks, use of the ink fingerprint, i.e. amount of the vitriol components normalized to iron we can make direct comparisons of the ink composition. We would like also to stress that though the methods of material analysis listed above have been successfully employed in the field of cultural heritage and conservation including ancient and medieval manuscripts they have not yet been used to study fragments from the Cairo Genizah. Therefore, we believe that this research project is a pioneering study that will provide new insights into the history of Hebrew writing materials, their production techniques and materials and, thus, contribute new data to the field of Hebrew paleography. T2 - Konferenz DESY “Archäometrie und Denkmalpflege 2018” CY - Hamburg, Germany DA - 20.03.2018 KW - Ink KW - XRF Analysis KW - Manuscript PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46042 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Schlanger, J. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of black Medieval Inks: Characterization and Interpretation. Case Study of an 11th century Egyptian Corpus N2 - This study focuses on the analysis of a corpus of manuscripts found in Fustat (medieval Cairo, Egypt) in the biggest medieval “archive” found until now: the Cairo Geniza. The giant collection of mostly Jewish documents has been attracting scholars’ attention a lot but so far, the material aspects of these documents seem to have been mainly neglected. Application of scientific methods of analysis, especially X-Ray fluorescence characterization, contributes to our understanding of the materials used for production of manuscripts during the Middle ages. Our corpus of the 11th century manuscripts comprises manuscripts written by scribes belonging to three Jewish communities that co-existed in Cairo during this period: the Karaites, the so-called Jerusalemites (or Palestinian) and the so-called Babylonians (or Iraqi), three different communities with different traditions and different leaders. The differences manifest themselves also in the paleographical properties of the manuscripts produced within each community. Can we extend the differences detected by the paleographical analysis to differences in composition of the writing materials and especially the composition of the inks? Or can we relate the differences in the composition to the manuscript type (legal, private...), or to another criterion. In this presentation, we offer answers to some of the questions using statistical analysis of the measurements results. T2 - Konferenz Natural Sciences and Technology in Manuscript Analysis CY - Hamburg, Germany DA - 13.06.2018 KW - Ink KW - Manuscript KW - XRF analysis PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46044 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Schlanger, J. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Writing materials analysis of 11th century Cairo Genizah's fragments N2 - This study focuses on the analysis of a corpus of manuscripts found in Fustat (medieval Cairo, Egypt) in the biggest medieval “archive” found until now: the Cairo Geniza. The giant collection of mostly Jewish documents has been attracting scholars’ attention a lot but so far, the material aspects of these documents seem to have been mainly neglected. Application of scientific methods of analysis, especially X-Ray fluorescence characterization, contributes to our understanding of the materials used for production of manuscripts during the Middle ages. Our corpus of the 11th century manuscripts comprises manuscripts written by scribes belonging to three Jewish communities that co-existed in Cairo during this period: the Karaites, the so-called Jerusalemites (or Palestinian) and the so-called Babylonians (or Iraqi), three different communities with different traditions and different leaders. The differences manifest themselves also in the paleographical properties of the manuscripts produced within each community. Can we extend the differences detected by the paleographical analysis to differences in composition of the writing materials and especially the composition of the inks? Or can we relate the differences in the composition to the manuscript type (legal, private...), or to another criterion. In this presentation, we offer answers to some of the questions using statistical analysis of the measurements results. T2 - Konferenz 6th Meeting “X-ray and other techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage” CY - Cracow, Poland DA - 17.05.2018 KW - Ink KW - Manuscript KW - XRF analysis PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46045 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Steger, Simon A1 - Bonnerot, Olivier A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Buzi, P. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Understanding the technological evolution of writing materials. Scientific systematic study of inks from Coptic manuscripts N2 - While studying the socio-geographic history of inks, division 4.5 of the BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und Prüfung) together with the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures in Hamburg has developed a protocol for ink analysis. It consists of a primary screening to determine the type of the ink and a subsequent in-depth analysis using several spectroscopic techniques: XRF, FTIR, and Raman. In most cases, we can obtain satisfactory results using a non-invasive protocol. However, mixed inks that contain no metals evade such a protocol. These inks constitute a heterogeneous group of media used especially in the Middle East and the Islamicate world since at least the 10th century; they are characterized by blending carbon ink and tannins, with or without the addition of vitriol. Our own research aims primarily at recreating a socio-geographic history of inks, parchment, and papyrus and includes the comparative analysis of the writing materials of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ink and papyrus in Ancient and Hellenistic Egypt, and inks in documents from various contemporary medieval communities in Fustat (first nucleus of Cairo). During many years of study, we concluded that the continuous production of Coptic manuscripts from late Antiquity to the Middle Ages offers a unique opportunity for historical study of the ink in a large geographic area. Thanks to the collaboration with the ERC project “PAThs” (www.paths.uniroma1.it), based at the University of Rome La Sapienza, and within the activities of a PhD research dedicated to this topic, we therefore created a new branch of our project focused entirely on the analysis of Coptic inks, pigments, and dyes. This pioneering systematic study of writing materials coming from a specific area and time frame (5th-10th century) aims not only at a better understanding of the complex Coptic multicultural and plurilingual society, but also and mainly at clarifying the links among the Coptic and other societies between the ancient and medieval eras. Finally, it will cast light on the history of the technological development of inks in the eastern world, from Antiquity to the middle ages. T2 - Konferenz: Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research, Gordon Research Conference CY - Castelldefels, Spain DA - 22.07.2018 KW - Coptic KW - Ink KW - Manuscript PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46024 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Nehring, G. A1 - Bonnerot, Olivier A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Buzi, P. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Comprehensive analysis of manuscripts. Systematic study of Coptik inks N2 - While studying the socio-geographic history of inks, division 4.5 of the BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und Prüfung) together with the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures in Hamburg has developed a protocol for ink analysis. It consists of a primary screening to determine the type of the ink, and a subsequent in-depth analysis using several spectroscopic techniques. The XRF elemental analysis aims primarily at understanding the fingerprints of inks containing metals, making it possible to distinguish among different inks. Our own research aims primarily at recreating a socio-geographic history of inks, parchment, and papyrus and includes the comparative analysis of the writing materials of the Dead Sea Scrolls, ink and papyrus in Ancient and Hellenistic Egypt, and inks in documents from various contemporary medieval communities in Fustat (first nucleus of Cairo). During many years of study, we concluded that the continuous production of Coptic manuscripts from late Antiquity to the Middle Ages offers a unique opportunity for historical study of the ink in a large geographic area. Thanks to the collaboration with the ERC project “PAThs” (www.paths.uniroma1.it), based at the University of Rome La Sapienza, and within the activities of a PhD research dedicated to this topic, we therefore created a new branch of our project focused entirely on the analysis of Coptic inks, pigments, and dyes. This pioneering systematic study of writing materials coming from a specific area and time frame (5th-10th century) aims not only at a better understanding of the complex Coptic multicultural and plurilingual society, but also and mainly at clarifying the links among the Coptic and other societies between the ancient and medieval eras. Finally, it will cast light on the history of the technological development of inks in the eastern world, from Antiquity to the middle ages. T2 - 7th Meeting 'X-ray and other techniques in investigations of the objects of cultural heritage' CY - Cracow, Poland DA - 17.05.2018 KW - Coptic KW - Ink KW - Manuscript PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46025 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Schlanger, J. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Cairo Genizah documents of the 11th century: analysis of writing materials N2 - The Cairo Genizah is a well-known “archive” discovered in the 19th century in Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, a district in Old Cairo (Egypt), located south of the center of modern Cairo. The giant collection of mostly Jewish documents that vary in genres, languages and writing supports contains a large number of early medieval Hebrew manuscripts, mostly in fragmentary form. The larger part of the Cairo Genizah is stored today in the Cambridge University Library, containing about 200,000 fragments. The Genizah provides sources for the literary, linguistic, historical studies of the various aspects Jewish and non-Jewish life. As the documents attest, at least two Jewish communities co-existed in Fustat up to 11th century: a so-called Babylonian and Palestinian. These communities had different leaders, different traditions and lived independently. The differences manifest themselves also in the paleographical properties of the manuscripts produced by each community. Although Genizah manuscripts have attracted a great deal of scholarly attention, the material aspects of these documents seem to have been largely neglected. The current study aims to obtain information on the composition of the writing supports and the inks used, in order to obtain insights on trade, local production techniques and social structures. Can we extend the differences detected by the paleographical analysis to differences in composition of the writing materials ? Can we relate the differences in the composition to a community, to the manuscript type (legal, private...), or to another criterion? T2 - Konferenz EAJS CY - Crakow, Poland DA - 14.07.2018 KW - Ink KW - Manuscript KW - XRF analysis PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46038 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Colini, C. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Bonnerot, Olivier A1 - Steger, Simon A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Christiansen, T. A1 - Bicchieri, M. A1 - Biocca, P. A1 - Krutzsch, M. A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Friedrich, M. ED - Quenzer, J. ED - Wandrey, I. T1 - The quest for the mixed inks N2 - In this article, we would like to share our observations concerning the inks produced by intentionally mixing soot or charcoal with tannin extracts or iron-gall ink. Aside from Zerdoun’s mention in her outstanding review of written sources, “Les encres noires au Moyen-Âge”, this ink category has received little if any attention from scholars and scientists. And yet, if analytically attested, the use of such inks could serve as an additional category to classify and distinguish the writing inks on the historical socio-geographic map of the writing inks we are trying to build. KW - Archaeometry KW - Non-destructive testing KW - Inks PY - 2018 SN - 1867-9617 VL - 2018 IS - 11 SP - 41 EP - 48 PB - Universität Hamburg CY - Hamburg AN - OPUS4-45784 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Nöller, Renate T1 - Scientific analysis of the Humboldt fragments N2 - The presented Humboldt Codices are from the early colonial period of Mexico and originate from different localities 1. typical indigen colors and mixtures: cochineal (red), indigo (blue and green), carbon (black), mangle, zacatlaxcalli, organic (brown, yellow)- critical! 2. colonial influence: iron gall ink for writing 3. single fragments belong together: are cut (fragments IX-XII), from Mizquahuala distributed (VII, XIII, XIV, [XV]) (VII, XIII in Mexico, XIV in Paris) T2 - Workshop: Manuscripta Americana: Aufarbeitung einer Sammlung; Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - PK CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 14. Februar 2019 KW - Humboldt Codices KW - XRF-, VIS- FTIR-spectroscopy KW - Dyes PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-47589 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -