TY - JOUR A1 - Nehring, Grzegorz A1 - Girard, Solène A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Conservation and Technical Evaluation of an Early Medieval Papyrus Codex N2 - In 2005, a team of Polish archaeologists discovered three Coptic codices, two on papyrus and one on parchment, in the rubbish dump of a hermitage at Sheik Abd el-Gurna, Egypt. While the parchment codex and the remains of the bindings of the papyrus ones have been conserved, the text blocks of the papyrus codices were opened and disassembled and after being disinfected remained untouched for nearly 15 years, until the current project started. Currently, all three books are stored in the collection of the Coptic Museum in Cairo. Our team undertook the conservation of and archaeometric research on the papyrus codices. The first of the books contains the Canons of Pseudo-Basil, while the second is an Encomium of St. Pisenthios. Both codices have been palaeographically dated to the seventh-eighth centuries CE. In this paper, we describe our project and present the results of the work carried out on the Canons of Pseudo-Basil. Our work involved photography in transmitted light, measurements of the thickness of the papyrus leaves, and digital microscopy under three-light illumination. These measurements allowed us to determine the types of the inks and characterize the papyrus writing substrate. For conservation, we used a novel method developed in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin that comprises suspending papyrus folios on a translucent, extremely thin Japanese paper inside glass frames without the use of adhesives.In 2005, a team of Polish archaeologists discovered three Coptic codices, two on papyrus and one on parchment, in the rubbish dump of a hermitage at Sheik Abd el-Gurna, Egypt. While the parchment codex and the remains of the bindings of the papyrus ones have been conserved, the text blocks of the papyrus codices were opened and disassembled and after being disinfected remained untouched for nearly 15 years, until the current project started. Currently, all three books are stored in the collection of the Coptic Museum in Cairo. Our team undertook the conservation of and archaeometric research on the papyrus codices. The first of the books contains the Canons of Pseudo-Basil, while the second is an Encomium of St. Pisenthios. Both codices have been palaeographically dated to the seventh-eighth centuries CE. In this paper, we describe our project and present the results of the work carried out on the Canons of Pseudo-Basil. Our work involved photography in transmitted light, measurements of the thickness of the papyrus leaves, and digital microscopy under three-light illumination. These measurements allowed us to determine the types of the inks and characterize the papyrus writing substrate. For conservation, we used a novel method developed in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin that comprises suspending papyrus folios on a translucent, extremely thin Japanese paper inside glass frames without the use of adhesives. KW - Papyrus KW - Codex KW - Conservation KW - Iron gall ink KW - Coptic PY - 2023 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-570998 SN - 0039-3630 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Taylor & Francis AN - OPUS4-57099 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 - CHAP A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Buzi, P. T1 - Detecting Early Medieval Coptic literature in Dayr Al-Anba Maqar, Between textual conservation and literary rearrangement: The case of Vat. Copt. 57 N2 - The study of the VAt.Copt. 57 at the Vatican Library. Codicological, palaeographical, textual and archaeometrical considerations. KW - Coptic KW - Archaeometry KW - Ink KW - Manuscripts PY - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-494004 SN - 978-88-210-1025-5 SP - 77 EP - 83 PB - Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana AN - OPUS4-49400 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Buzi, Paola T1 - Archaeometric analysis of Egyptian inks from Late Antiquity N2 - Presentation of the results obtained on a corpus of Egyptian papyri from Late Antiquity T2 - Research Showcase: studying Greco-Roman Egypt CY - University of Basel, Switzerland DA - 26.09.2019 KW - Ink KW - Archaeometry KW - Manuscripts KW - Coptic PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-49969 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Buzi, Paola T1 - Análisis arqueométrico de tintas N2 - Análisís arquéometrico de tintas de manuscritos Egipcios T2 - IX Jornadas de Papirología CY - Abadía de Montserrat, Spain DA - 08.07.2019 KW - Coptic KW - Archaeometry KW - Ink KW - Manuscripts PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-49970 LA - spa AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Buzi, Paola T1 - Archaeometric analisis of Egyptian inks from Late Antiquity N2 - Archaeometric analisis of Egyptian inks from Late Antiquity: presentation of the results obtaine on a curpus of literary and documentary manuscripts. T2 - International congress of papyrology CY - Lecce, Italy DA - 28.07.2019 KW - Coptic KW - Archaeometry KW - Ink KW - Manuscripts PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-49971 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 -