TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Beyond Chocolate and Apricot Using Scientific Techniques to Determine the Relationship of the Inks of Codex Vaticanus N2 - Codex Vaticanus was written by multiple scribes and annotated by over thirty different hands. In the past, scholars have speculated about the relationship between the inks using highly subjective observations. For example, The scholars spoke about “apricot” and “chocolate” distigmai, arguing for their respective origins based on their visual similarity to the original ink and that of the medieval reinker, respectively. In recent decades, micro X-ray fluorescence (µXRF) has revolutionized the study of ancient and medieval cultural artifacts, making it possible to examine them using objective criteria. The application of such objective scientific measurements to ancient and medieval manuscripts will be explained with examples of how color, hue, and appearance of ink can be highly misleading. T2 - Annual Meeting of the Siciety of Biblical Literature CY - San Antonio, TX, USA DA - 18.11.2023 KW - Codex B KW - Codex Vaticanus KW - Historic ink KW - Micro-XRF PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-61200 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Panorama of Black writing inks: From Antiquity to the Middle Ages N2 - 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) [1-5]. 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 imaging in the near infrared region. 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 colour, 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 near infrared light, 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 method using infrared light in the spectral region 1000 – 1400 nm. 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 - Public lecture CY - Manchester, UK DA - 01.02.2024 KW - Ink KW - Historic ink PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61201 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 - Unveiling the use of writing materials in Carolingian manuscripts N2 - After having been neglected for a long time, materiality is nowadays of great interest in the study of manuscripts. This allows us to explore the variety (and potential coexistence) of different inks and pigments in type and composition in their use over time and geographical area. In this presentation, we aim to contribute to their study through archaeometric analyses of black and red inks used in Carolingian manuscripts copied between the 8th and the 10th centuries. These analyses are based on an interdisciplinary strategy, bringing together knowledge from the humanities and natural sciences to understand the global use of black and red inks in the Carolingian Empire. In this regard, we adopted a non-invasive protocol that included near-infrared imaging and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for on-site measurements supported by historical and palaeographic analysis. The results have been collected in the framework of two projects at the University of Hamburg in close collaboration with the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung, Berlin (BAM) and will be compared with several other archaeometric studies of contemporary manuscripts. T2 - Novel approaches to Digital Codicology CY - Tours, France DA - 10.05.2023 KW - Carolingian manuscripts KW - Historick inks KW - Pigments PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-61199 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Imaging micro-XRF in studies of manuscripts N2 - Availability of mobile XRF-equipment with an interaction spot of ca. 100 µm produced a revolution in the studies of manuscripts. A protocol for the use of line-scans introduced in the beginning of 2000 permitted large scale and extremely successful investigations of the medieval iron-gall inks. Here, we usually focus on a comparison of the characteristic metallic components in the inks. In our work, we encountered cases that could be adequately addressed only using large area imaging XRF. However, conducting an M6 scan on a bound manuscript or on a scroll of huge dimensions is not a simple and easy matter. In our presentation, we want to share our experience by presenting a series of the case studies, in which many an original solution was found. T2 - M6 JETSTREAM European User Meeting CY - London, GB DA - 03.04.2023 KW - Micro-XRF KW - Manuscripts KW - Imaging PY - 2023 AN - OPUS4-61198 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Authentic vs. inauthentic Dead Sea Scrolls from the point of view of material analysis N2 - The paper seeks to illuminate the problem of identifying forgeries among the Dead Sea Scrolls from the point of view of material analysis. It will present the sum of our technical knowledge of the skin-based material of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which includes the original treatment of the skins and the resulting typology as well as degradation effects due to their sojourn in caves and post-discovery interventions. We will try then to list the characteristic properties that must be found in the authentic material. We will supplement the presentation with a short description of the relevant methods of material analysis and their contribution to the secure identification of inauthentic Dead Sea Scrolls. T2 - Annual Meeting of the Siciety of Biblical Literature CY - Denver, CO, USA DA - 19.11.2022 KW - Dear Sea Scrolls KW - Forgery PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-61196 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Material analysis - results N2 - The presentations describes the results obtained by material analysis of the writing materials. Their relevance in the field of digital editing and publishing is discussed. T2 - Communicating Revealed Texts: Best Practices for Born-Digital Editions Using Enhanced Imaging CY - Iowa City, IA, USA DA - 29.06.2024 KW - Writing materials KW - Manuscripts KW - Material analysis PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61202 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Advances in Characterization of Written Heritage N2 - The session discusses three brances of teh work on the manuscripts: ink analysis, parchment analysis by proteomics (Matthew Collins) and lipids (Mélanie Roffet-Salque); revealing of hidden text using AI. The example of Vesuvium Challenge is presented and discussed by Bren Seales. T2 - Scientific Methods in Cultural Heritage Research Gordon Research Conference CY - Vaud, Switzerland DA - 07.07.2024 KW - Written Heritage KW - Vesuvius challenge KW - Proteomics KW - Lipids PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-61203 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 - 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 - 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 - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Studies of the black writing inks N2 - In recent years, the interest in the composition of the inks in papyri documents grew exponentially. Different types of inks were found in the period 4th century BCE to 7th century CE. The paper will demonstrate a simple protocol based on comparison of the ink transparency in the near infrared light and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The importance of including ink composition into new catalogues and possible formats of such data will be also presented and discussed. T2 - 31st International Congress of Papyrology CY - Cologne, Germany DA - 28.07.2025 KW - Ink KW - Historic ink KW - Papyrus PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64777 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 - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - The Temple Scroll: Reconstructing an Ancient Manufacturing Practice N2 - The presentation shows the studies of ancient parchment and leather conducted by the authors within last 20 years. Presentation specifically focusses on poduction of the parchment of the Temple scroll. The practice unites the early production of modern parchment with the lost way of skin splitting. T2 - The Temple Scroll: A Research Colloquium CY - New York City, USA DA - 24.02.2025 KW - Dead Sea Scrolls KW - Parchment KW - Tanning PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64779 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -