TY - JOUR A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Lattuati-Derieux, Agnès ED - Ribeyrol, Charlotte ED - Heginbotham, Arlen T1 - Black Carolingian inks under examination. Part 1: recipes and literature survey N2 - Black writing materials of different types and compositions have varied in use over time and different geographical regions. With this paper, we would like to contribute to their study by listing and reviewing recipes for black writing inks that were in circulation in the Carolingian Empire as well as by referencing the archaeometric analyses of the black inks used in the manuscripts. The studies presented here that involved the humanities and natural sciences provide new insights into how the scholars of the early Medieval Ages organized manuscripts. N2 - L’emploi des differents types de materiaux d’ecriture noirs et leurs compositions ont varie selon les epoques et les regions. Nous souhaitons ici contribuer a leur etude en repertoriant et en analysant les recettes d’encres de calligraphie noires en circulation dans l’Empire carolingien, ainsi qu’en procedant au referencement des analyses archeometriques des encres noires utilisees dans les manuscrits. Faisant appel aux sciences humaines et aux sciences naturelles, ces analyses apportent un eclairage nouveau sur la maniere dont les savants du haut Moyen Age organisaient les manuscrits. KW - Ink KW - Manuscript KW - Middle Ages KW - Recipes KW - Ink analyses KW - Carolingian PY - 2023 SN - 1254-7867 VL - 2023 IS - 55 SP - 90 EP - 95 PB - Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France CY - Paris AN - OPUS4-58839 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Buzi, P. T1 - Black Egyptian inks in Late Antiquity: new insights on their manufacture and use N2 - We present here our methodological approach applied to the study of Egyptian inks in Late Antiquity. It is based on an interdisciplinary strategy, bringing together a variety of disciplines from humanities and natural sciences, and it aims at systematically collecting a statistically relevant amount of data regarding the composition of the inks. The application of a wellestablished, non-invasive protocol that includes near-infrared imaging and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for in situ measurements enables the identification and characterisation of inks dating from the end of Late Antiquity onwards. However, sometimes this method limits our understanding when characterising more ancient inks. Trying to overcome these limitations, the potential of a new device for the characterisation of organic compounds is here explored by conducting preliminary tests on mock samples. In this work, we present the results from 77 codicological units that include some of the earliest manuscripts of our corpus that presently lists 159 units. KW - Ink KW - Archaeometry KW - Manuscripts KW - Coptic KW - Egypt PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-503893 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00977-3 VL - 12 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-50389 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Black ink from antiquity to the Middle Ages N2 - Il nostro lavoro di ricerca al BAM si concentra sul passaggio dagli inchiostri a base di fuliggine, comuni nell'antichità, agli inchiostri ferro-gallici, comunemente usati nel Medioevo. Con l'obiettivo di creare una storia dettagliata degli inchiostri neri, abbiamo elaborato un protocollo non invasivo per raccogliere dati statisticamente rilevanti sugli inchiostri da manoscritti datati e localizzati che coprono un ampio arco temporale e diverse aree geografiche. Il primo passo del nostro protocollo consiste nella selezione effettuata mediante riflettografia NIR e IRR. Le differenze ottiche tra gli inchiostri a base di carbonio, tannino e ferro-gallio sono meglio riconoscibili confrontando la loro risposta alla luce infrarossa: l'inchiostro a base di carbonio ha un colore nero intenso, l'inchiostro ferro-gallico diventa trasparente al di sopra dei 1400 nm e l'inchiostro a base di tannino scompare a circa 750 nm. abbiamo semplificato l'analisi utilizzando un piccolo microscopio USB con LED NIR (940 nm) e UV (395 nm) integrati, oltre a una fonte di luce bianca esterna. Confrontando le immagini sotto illuminazione bianca e nel vicino infrarosso, determiniamo la tipologia di inchiostro osservando i cambiamenti nell'opacità dell'inchiostro. In questo caso, gli inchiostri a base di carbonio non mostrano alcuna variazione di opacità quando illuminati con lunghezza d'onda NIR, mentre l'opacità degli inchiostri ferro-gallici cambia notevolmente e gli inchiostri tanninici diventano trasparenti. La nostra recente scoperta che gli inchiostri misti carbonio/ferro-gallici erano piuttosto diffusi nella tarda antichità e nell'alto Medioevo ci ha suggerito di tornare al metodo IRR convenzionale. Il secondo passo del protocollo prevede l'analisi micro-XRF per identificare i componenti inorganici dell'inchiostro. Nel caso degli inchiostri ferro-gallici, stabiliamo le impronte digitali, ovvero i rapporti caratteristici tra i componenti vitriolici dell'inchiostro e l'elemento principale, ferro. T2 - 1° SEMINARIO di studi dottorali CY - Benevento, Italy DA - 06.10.2025 KW - Ink KW - Historic ink PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64773 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Cohen, Zina ED - Corazzol, Giacomo ED - Fargeon, Sarah T1 - Black inks in medieval Jewish manuscripts N2 - Our aim was to obtain information about the use of different black inks in medieval Hebrew manuscripts, focusing on the question of possible preferences in the use of certain inks by different scribes. We present here an overview of the inks detected in a selection of Hebrew documents penned in the Middle East in the period from the 11th century to the 13th century. KW - Historic ink KW - Ink KW - Hebrew manuscripts KW - XRF KW - NIR PY - 2025 UR - https://books.openedition.org/ephe/2673?lang=en DO - https://doi.org/10.4000/13sug SP - 13 EP - 30 CY - Paris AN - OPUS4-65349 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Black writing inks: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages N2 - Tracing the transition from writing inks based on soot, common in Antiquity to the iron-gall inks commonly used in the Middle Ages builds a focus of our investigative work at the BAM and the Centre for the Studies of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) [1-4]. With the aim of creating a detailed history of writing black inks, we worked out a non-invasive protocol to collect statistically relevant ink data from dated and localized manuscripts covering a large time span and different geographic areas. The first step of our protocol consists of the screening carried out by means of the NIR & IRR reflectography. The optical differences between carbon, tannin, and iron-gall inks are best recognized by comparing their response to the infrared light: carbon ink has a deep black color, iron-gall ink becomes transparent above 1400 nm, and tannin ink disappears at about 750 nm, we have simplified the analysis using a small USB microscope with built-in NIR (940 nm) and UV (395 nm) LED in addition to an external white light source [1]. Comparing the images under white and near infrared illumination, we determine the ink typology by observing the changes in the opacity of the ink. Here, carbon-based inks show no change in their opacity when illuminated with NIR wavelength, while the opacity of iron-gall inks changes considerably, and tannin inks become transparent. Our own recent finding that mixed carbon / iron-gall inks were quite popular in the late Antiquity and early Middle Ages suggested to return to the conventional IRR method. The presentation will show the panorama of historic inks and our attempt to follow up the transition of the inks from those based on soot to the iron-gall inks commonly used in the Middle Ages. T2 - Seminar University of Oslo CY - Oslo, Norway DA - 23.09.2022 KW - Ink KW - Historic ink PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-61194 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Ink Analysis of Relic Texts N2 - The presentation will show the multitude of black writing inks in use during the late Antiquity and early Middle Ages in Europa and the Near East and our attempt to follow up the transition of the inks from those based on soot to the iron-gall inks commonly used in the Middle Ages. Black writing inks in the period under consideration can be divided into three different classes: soot, tannin and iron-gall ink. The first one is a fine dispersion of carbon pigments in a water-soluble binding agent, the second one is a solution of plant extract from tree barks or gallnuts, while the third one contains both soluble and insoluble phases. This last ink is based on metal (iron) and is produced by a chemical reaction of soluble iron (II) with tannin in aqueous solution. Tracing the transition from writing inks based on carbon pigments (soot or charcoal), common in Antiquity to the iron-gall inks commonly used in the Middle Ages builds a focus of our investigative work at the BAM (Federal Institute of Material Analysis and Testing). In this context, we will discuss the results of the ink analysis obtained within the project “Crafting documents”. T2 - Heritage Science and Manuscripts from Antiquity and the Middle Ages CY - Oxford, United Kingdom DA - 13.11.2025 KW - Ink KW - Historic ink PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64772 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Inks in Early Medieval Manuscripts from Chelles: a Scientific Study N2 - The talk will start with the overview of the ink types and the methods of their characterisation. After displaying XRF spectra of different Carolingian inks the talk will discuss Chelles collection and the labels attributed to Chelles. We will concentrate then on the study of the Chelles manuscripts preserved in Cologne, Vatican and Paris. We will show that there is a good degree of coincidence between the inks of the Chelles manuscripts and the labels attributed to Chelles. We observe unusually early use of vitriolic ink north of the Alps. T2 - Leeds International Medieval Congress (IMC 2025) CY - Leeds, United Kingdom DA - 07.07.2025 KW - Ink KW - Historic ink PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64778 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Gordon, Nehemia A1 - Cohen, Zina T1 - Inks of the Bologna Scroll: A Preliminary Study N2 - Rotolo 2 at the Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, also known simply as the “Bologna Scroll,” is currently the oldest known complete Torah scroll without later replacement sheets or significant lacunae. The Bologna Scroll has some unusual scribal features. According to one opinion in the Babylonian Talmud, a Torah scroll must be written with carbon ink to be valid for liturgical use.12 The main inks of the Bologna Scroll are very black, and the inks of the marginal corrections in tiny letters are even blacker. In this study, eh inks were tested by means of XRF-spectroscopy and NIR imaging. Conreary to the expectations, the current tests have definitively determined that the Bologna Scroll was both written and corrected using multiple iron-gall inks. KW - Torah KW - Ink KW - Historic ink PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.1353/mns.2024.a945374 VL - 9 IS - 2 SP - 222 EP - 242 AN - OPUS4-62264 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gordon, N. A1 - Bonnerot, Olivier A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Friedrich, M. ED - Quenzer, J. T1 - Inks Used to Write the Divine Name in a Thirteenth-Century Ashkenazic Torah Scroll: Erfurt 7 (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Ms. or. fol. 1216) N2 - The scribe of ‘Erfurt 7’, a thirteenth-century Torah scroll now kept in Berlin, initially left blank spaces for the divine appellations Elohim ( אלהים ) and YHWH Elohim ( ,(יהוה אלהים which were filled in during a second stage of writing. The appearance of the ink employed to write the appellations was significantly darker than that of the surrounding ink. X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) has shown that the light and dark brown inks had similar elemental compositions, but contained different ratios of iron to potassium, which could be explained by the use of different batches of ink. According to some medieval sources, the divine appellations were sometimes filled in during a second stage of writing in the presence of ten men from the Jewish community. In Erfurt 7, the two-stage procedure was only performed in the first 1.5 columns of the original sheets, suggesting it may have been part of a public ceremony inaugurating the writing of the divine names in the scroll. Erfurt 7 emerges from this study not only as a ritual object used for liturgy, but as a rallying point for the Jews of Erfurt to come together as a community to express their reverence for the written form of God’s name. The divine name YHWH ( יהוה ) was written in a smaller script than the surrounding text on three replacement sheets using the same two-stage procedure. The ink used on the replacement sheets contained zinc, which is characteristic of other Erfurt manuscripts as well. This suggests that Erfurt was the place where the scroll was used, cherished and eventually repaired. KW - Torah KW - Ink KW - Erfurt KW - 13th century PY - 2020 SN - 1867–9617 VL - 15 SP - 163 EP - 184 AN - OPUS4-52965 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Material analysis of afghanistan liturgical quire (ALQ) conducted at the BAM N2 - The lecture presents the results of the detailed material analysis of the inks and of the parchment of the Afghanistan Liturgical Quire (ALQ), conducted at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -Prüfung (BAM) in Berlin. Testing was conducted using the following techniques: 3-color photography, 3D-digital microscopy, scanning μ-X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), μ- Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. I will give a short explanation of the principles of the techniques and explain the choice of the instruments. The main task of our work at the BAM required characterization of the inks and comparison of the ink as well as the composition of parchment. For the ink characterization we have followed the protocol developed at the BAM. The standard protocol includes three non-invasive stages: a) near infrared photography (NIRR) to determine the ink type or its main component; b) X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) to determine a fingerprint for iron-gall inks or contaminants in carbon/plant inks; c) Raman spectroscopy if there is an indication that the inks are of a mixed type. For parchment characterization, we usually employ µ-XRF-mapping and FTIR to gain information on specific treatments experienced by the parchment during its preparation and history. T2 - 19th World Congress of Jewish Studies CY - Jerusalem, Israel DA - 04.08.2025 KW - Hebrew Manuscripts KW - Parchment KW - Ink KW - XRF KW - NIR PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64776 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -