TY - JOUR A1 - Albarrán Martínez, M. J. A1 - Ghigo, Tea T1 - The practice of writing inside an Egyptian monastic settlement N2 - Over the last few years, the Federal Institute for material research (BAM, Berlin) together with the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC, University of Hamburg) have initiated a systematic material investigation of black inks produced from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages (ca. fourth century CE–fourteenth/fifteenth centuries CE), aimed primarily at extending and complementing findings from previous sporadic studies. Part of this systematic investigation has focused on Egyptian Coptic manuscripts, and the present preliminary study is one of its outputs. It centres on a corpus of 45 Coptic manuscripts—43 papyri and 2 ostraca—preserved at the Palau-Ribes and Roca-Puig collections in Barcelona. The manuscripts come from the Monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit, one of the largest monastic settlements in Egypt between the Late Antiquity and the Early Islamic Period (sixth–eighth centuries CE). The composition of their black inks was investigated in situ using near-infrared reflectography (NIRR) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The analyses determined that the manuscripts were written using different types of ink: pure carbon ink; carbon ink containing iron; mixed inks containing carbon, polyphenols and metallic elements; and iron-gall ink. The variety of inks used for the documentary texts seems to reflect the articulate administrative system of the monastery of Bawit. This study reveals that, in contrast to the documents, written mostly with carbon-based inks, literary biblical texts were written with iron-gall ink. The frequent reuse of papyrus paper for certain categories of documents may suggest that carbon-based inks were used for ephemeral manuscripts, since they were easy to erase by abrasion. KW - Papyrus KW - Ink analysis KW - Coptic manuscripts KW - Bawit KW - Mixed ink KW - Near-infrared refectography KW - X-ray fuorescence PY - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-528833 SN - 2050-7445 VL - 9 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Springer Open CY - Rome, Italy AN - OPUS4-52883 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 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-503893 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 - 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 - 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 -