TY - CHAP A1 - Colini, Claudia A1 - Shevchuk, I. A1 - Huskin, K. A. A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Hahn, Oliver ED - Quenzer, J. B. T1 - A New Standard Protocol for Identification of Writing Media N2 - Our standard protocol for the characterisation of writing materials within advanced manuscript studies has been successfully used to investigate manuscripts written with a pure ink on a homogeneous writing surface. However, this protocol is inadequate for analysing documents penned in mixed inks. We present here the advantages and limitations of the improved version of the protocol, which now includes imaging further into the infrared region (1100−1700 nm). KW - Archaeometry KW - Manuscripts KW - Non-destructive testing PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-543454 SN - 978-3-11-074545-0 DO - https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110753301-009 VL - 25 SP - 161 EP - 182 PB - Walter de Gruyter GmbH CY - Berlin/Boston AN - OPUS4-54345 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Nehring, G. A1 - Freisitzer, R. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - A study on early european inks from St. Paul in lavanttal N2 - Typology of Inks Archives and museums around the world contain a vast number of manuscripts that were written in different inks: carbon inks, plant inks, iron-gall inks and mixed inks. Yet most archaeometric studies of manuscripts focus on the palette of pigments found in illuminated manuscripts whereas identification of the inks is still largely based on cultural-historical studies and visual inspections. One of the reasons of this disproportion in the studies can be explained by the properties of Raman spectroscopy, the technique of choice for identification of pigments. In contrast, this technique is only partially viable when dealing with organic colourants. Brown and Clark discuss these difficulties and the uncertainties of identification of iron-gall inks by Raman spectroscopy in their pioneering work on early medieval Anglo-Saxon manuscripts (K. Brown and R. Clark 2004). To facilitate instrumental analysis of inks, we have developed a protocol that starts with the identification of the inks type (Rabin et al. 2012) which doesn’t require complicated instrumentation and can be carried out by paleographers and codicologists. Three typological ink classes The black writing materials used in manuscript production in Antiquity und Middle Ages can be sorted in three typologically different ink classes: soot, plant and iron-gall. Soot ink is a fine dispersion of carbon pigments in a water soluble binding agent; plant-based ink consists of a solution of the tannins extracted from gallnuts or tree bark; iron-gall ink, is produced by mixing a soluble compound of iron (II) with gallic or tannic acid extracted from gallnuts or tree bark. Therefore, iron-gall ink presents a boundary case between solution and dispersion ink, in which a water-soluble preliminary stage oxidizes and evolves into a black, insoluble precipitate similar to the carbon pigments when the writing is exposed to air (Krekel 1999). The additional category of mixed inks, i.e. inks produced by addition of various metals to the soot inks or intentional mixing of iron-gall and soot - based inks started attracting scholarly attention only recently because their significance was established only a short while ago (Brun et al. 2016, Colini 2018, Nehring et al. 2021). We suggest that plant and mixed inks build a bridge from the carbon ink of Antiquity to the properly formulated iron-gall ink that became a standard black ink from the late Middle Ages to the 19th century when it gave way to modern inks. KW - Early european inks KW - Typology of Inks KW - Raman spectroscopy KW - Illuminated manuscripts KW - Archaeometric studies KW - Dispersion of carbon pigments PY - 2021 VL - 2021 SP - 56 EP - 75 PB - Gazette du livre médiéval CY - Paris AN - OPUS4-53844 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 - CHAP A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Russel, R.E. ED - Lange, A. T1 - Ancient Inks N2 - In the last decade scientists and scholars have accumulated more knowledge on black ink used for writing in Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Ready availability of non-destructive testing instruments employed in interdisciplinary projects on historic manuscripts have made it possible to determine the composition of ink and to compare it with the extant records. KW - Writing Ink KW - Antiquity PY - 2023 SN - 2468-3027 VL - 3D SP - 117 EP - 120 PB - Brill CY - Leiden / Boston AN - OPUS4-58913 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 - 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 - 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 - JOUR A1 - Cohen, Z. A1 - Hennings, T. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Depreux, P. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Black inks under examination. Part 2: a case study of Carolingian manuscripts N2 - With this paper, we would like to contribute to the study of black writing materials by investigating the black inks used in the manuscripts from monastic production in the eastern part of the Frankish kingdom, especially in the region of Lake Constance and in Bavaria and dated to the period between the 8th and the 10th centuries. The corpus under study contains manuscripts with formulae, i.e. model letters and charters, besides numerous other types of texts with no clear separation between them (for example by titles). Sixty-three manuscripts have been studied with the aim of reconstructing the history of both their copying and their use. To this aim, we adopted a non-invasive approach that included near-infrared imaging and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for on-site measurements, supported by historical and palaeographic analysis. The results obtained in this project are compared with several other archaeometric studies of contemporary manuscripts with the general aim of understanding the use of black ink in medieval manuscripts. KW - Manuscript KW - Ink analysis KW - Carolingian PY - 2023 DO - https://doi.org/10.4000/techne.18919 SN - 2239-0243 VL - 56 SP - 105 EP - 113 AN - OPUS4-61582 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 - JOUR A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Ward, Aengus T1 - Centenary Paper: Of Inks and Scribes: The Composition of a Thirteenth-Century Castilian Manuscript – British Library Res 20787 N2 - This article presents the results of the first scientific analysis of the inks of a thirteenth-century Castilian manuscript – British Library Res 20787, a copy of the Fuero de las leyes. The analysis reveals the fingerprint of the inks used in the codex and points the way to future cross-disciplinary research based on a wider corpus of evidence. KW - Archaeometry KW - Manuscript KW - Colorant KW - Cinnabar PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.3828/bhs.2024.56 SN - 1475-3839 VL - 101 SP - 703 EP - 720 PB - Liverpool University Press AN - OPUS4-61435 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Charakterisierung historischer Schreibtinten: optische Eigenschaften und elementare Zusammensetzung N2 - Unsere Forschung zielt in erster Linie darauf ab, eine soziogeografische Geschichte von Tinte, Pergament und Papyrus zu rekonstruieren, und umfasst die Materialanalyse der Schreibtinten der Schriftrollen vom Toten Meer, der antiken und hellenistischen Papyri in Ägypten, sowie der Koptischen und Europäischen Tinten des Mittelalters. Zu diesem Zweck haben wir ein Protokoll für die zerstörungsfreie Tintenanalyse entwickelt. Es besteht aus einem ersten Screening mit Hilfe der VIS/NIR Fotografie, um die Art der Tinte zu bestimmen, und der anschließenden Analyse mit der Röntgenfluoreszenzanalyse (RFA). Letztere spielt eine wichtige Rolle bei der Identifizierung der Metalle in den Rußtuschen und der Bestimmung der charakteristischen Zusammensetzung metallhaltiger Tinten, um zwischen den verschiedenen Tinten zu unterscheiden. Der Vortrag bietet ein Panorama schwarzer historischer Schreibmittel und zeigt, dass die Materialanalyse einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Beantwortung vieler kulturhistorischen Fragen leisten kann. T2 - Eingeladener Vortrag bei GStA CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 10.11.2025 KW - Tinte KW - Tusche PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64783 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Gordon, Nehemia A1 - Calvillo, Nelson T1 - Coloured Ruling Lines in a Fourteenth-Century Ashkenazi Torah Scroll N2 - Rabbinic halakhah required that Torah scrolls be written with relief ruling, horizontal and vertical lines scored into the writing surface. Coloured ruling with plummet or ink would make a Torah scroll invalid for liturgical use. Ruling lines on some leather fragments of early Oriental Torah scrolls give the impression of being produced with plummet or ink but may be the result of dust in the furrows of relief ruling. Erfurt 9, a fourteenth-century Ashkenazi Torah scroll, has coloured ruling, which is partial secondary re-ruling, on 13 of the 34 surviving sheets, perhaps added when the original relief ruling was difficult to see. The coloured ruling in Erfurt 9 is brown, giving it the visual appearance of iron-gall ink. However, XRF tests showed that the only meaningful metallic component in the coloured ruling was lead (Pb). Lead plummet ruling tends to have a greyish appearance. Black specks under near infrared light are consistent with minium, a lead-based red ink that can turn brown when it degrades. Partial secondary re-ruling added with minium to the original relief ruling comes as a surprise as it would have rendered Erfurt 9 unfit for liturgical use. KW - Hebrew Manuscripts KW - Ruling Lines KW - Coloured Ink PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-628531 DO - https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.17169 SN - 2410-0951 VL - 10 SP - 9 EP - 32 AN - OPUS4-62853 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - 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 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-570998 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2023.2183554 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 - CHAP A1 - Rimon, Hasia A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Fuller, R.E. ED - Lange, A. T1 - Conservation of the Dead Sea Scrolls N2 - The current state of preservation of the DSS results from the synergetic effect of various factors such as great age, post-discovery treatments, poor storage conditions, environmental influences and exhibitions. With rare exceptions, neither the initial state nor a list of the treatments performed on each DSS fragment is known. Reconstruction of the individual fragment history will have to rely upon advanced analytical techniques to identify the treatments and their effects. Management of the scrolls may be divided roughly into three periods: a) the scholarly archiving period, from 1948 to the mid-1960s; b) first attempts at conservation, from the mid-1960s to late-1980s; c) Israel Antiquities Authority Scrolls Lab, from 1991 onwards. KW - Preservation KW - Dead Sea Scrolls PY - 2023 SN - 2468-3027 VL - 3D SP - 102 EP - 105 PB - Brill CY - Leiden / Boston AN - OPUS4-58910 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Boaretto, E. A1 - Newman, H. A1 - Shevchuk, I. A1 - Breterniz, S. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Date, Materiality and Historical Significance of P.Köln Inv. 5941 N2 - The paper presents the results of the radiocarbon dating and ink analysis of a leather fragment bearing an important liturgical text in Hebrew from the early centuries of the common era. The work initiated by the scholarly interest in the text stresses the importance of the date and materiality of the manuscripts and closes with an appeal to the curators of manuscript collections. KW - Mixed ink KW - Radiocarbon KW - Leather PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-528063 DO - https://doi.org/10.25592/uhhfdm.8471 VL - 6/2 SP - 173 EP - 186 AN - OPUS4-52806 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Krutzsch, A1 - Nehring, ED - Prignitz, Sebastian ED - Vaelske, Veit T1 - Der Papyruskodex Berlin P 1862: Restaurierung und materialtechnische Beobachtungen N2 - This paper presents the conservation of the codex Berlin P 1862, which includes the reconstruction of the original double leaves. This made it possible to reconstruct the original sequence of the layers of the codex. In addition to a detailed description of the papyrus material, technical details are explained. These concern the production, structure and layout of this codex. KW - Papyrus KW - Tusche PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111345253-011 SP - 141 EP - 163 AN - OPUS4-62265 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Hahn, Oliver ED - Michel, C. ED - Friedrich, M. T1 - Detection of Fakes: The Merits and Limits of Non-Invasive Materials Analysis N2 - This paper addresses the sensitive issue of authenticating unprovenanced manuscripts of high monetary value to certify they are genuine. Over the last decade, the popularity of material studies of manuscripts using non-destructive testing (NDT) has increased enormously. These studies are held in especially high esteem in the case of suspicious writings due to the methodological rigour they are reputed to contribute to debate. We would like to stress that materials analysis alone cannot prove that an object is genuine. Unfortunately, audiences with a humanities background often tend to disregard the technical details and treat any published interpretation of instrumental analysis as an objective finding. Four examples are outlined here to illustrate what questionable contributions the natural sciences can make in describing manuscripts that have actually been forged. KW - Fakes KW - Non-invasive analysis KW - Limitations PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-517202 SN - 978-3-11-071422-7 DO - https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110714333 SN - 2365-9696 VL - 20 SP - 281 EP - 290 PB - Walter de Gruyter GmbH CY - Berlin/Boston AN - OPUS4-51720 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gordon, Nehemia A1 - Patrick, Andrist A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Vasileiadis, Pavlos D. A1 - Calvillo, Nelson A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Did the Original Scribes Write the Distigmai in Codex Vaticanus B of the Bible (Vat. gr. 1209)? N2 - The fourth-century Greek Bible manuscript Codex Vaticanus B (Vat. gr. 1209) contains pairs of horizontally aligned marginal dots known as distigmai, which correspond to textual variants in other manuscripts. The production of the distigmai has been variously dated to the 4th or 16th centuries. A fourth-century date would prove the early existence of hundreds of textual variants, many of which are otherwise only witnessed by later manuscripts. Near infrared microscope reflectography combined with micro-X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy proved that the distigmai, both those categorized as “apricot” (which are visually similar to the ink of the original main text) and “chocolate” (which are visually similar to the reinking of the main text) were written with ink(s) made from chemically purified vitriol, a process that only became standard in the 16th century. As a result, there is no reasonable chance that the distigmai were written in the fourth century. Horizontal lines that have been hypothesized to function as text-critical obeloi were written in the same ink as the original main text, which differs completely from that of the distigmai. In other words, the distigmai and horizontal lines tested were not produced during the same writing session and are separated by more than 1,000 years, making it impossible for them to have functioned as conjoining text-critical symbols in the 4th century. KW - Bible manuscripts KW - New Testament KW - Paratextual features KW - Textual criticism KW - Obelos KW - Septuagint KW - XRF KW - Greek palaeography PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-622902 DO - https://doi.org/10.1163/27728641-00302005 SN - 2772-8633 VL - 3 IS - 2 SP - 125 EP - 156 PB - Brill CY - Leiden AN - OPUS4-62290 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Dietz, G. A1 - Eggert, Claudia A1 - Golle, U. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Ketelsen, T. A1 - Ludwig, A. A1 - Melzer, C. A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Wintermann, C. ED - Hahn, Oliver ED - Doil, Thorsten ED - Wintermann, C. T1 - Die Materialität der Zeichnung - Eine naturwissenschaftliche Annäherung N2 - Der Band 5 der N.i.Ke.-Schriftenreihe präsentiert den aktuellen Stand materialwissenschaftlicher und bildgebender Verfahren, die bei der Untersuchung von Zeichnungen Anwendung finden. Im ersten Teil der Publikation werden die klassischen Zeichnungsträger und Zeichnungsmaterialien vorgestellt. Der mittlere Teil der Publikation beschreibt die relevanten materialwissenschaftlichen und bildgebenden Verfahren. Der letzte Teil diskutiert anhand einiger Fallbeispiele die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Methoden. KW - Archäometrie KW - Zeichnungen KW - Zerstörungsfreie Prüfung KW - Papier KW - Pergament KW - Zeichenmaterialien PY - 2024 SN - 2567-1251 N1 - Es gibt eine parallele Sprachausgabe (englisch), ein Link befindet sich im Feld zugehöriger Identifikator - There is a parallel language edition (English), a link is in the field related identifier VL - 5 SP - VII EP - 111 PB - Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-60751 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nehring, Grzegorz A1 - Gordon, Nehemia A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Distinguishing between seemingly identical inks using scanning μXRF and heat maps N2 - This study will present a new approach to distinguishing writing inks that have the same elemental compositions and visual appearances. The approach is based on displaying the intensity of elemental distributions as heat maps that represent data recorded with a scanning μX-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The heat maps present the data so as to facilitate digitally identifying and distinguishing between inks used to produce, correct, and reink two medieval Torah scrolls. As ritual objects, Torah scrolls had to be written in accordance with exacting standards that evolved over time. This requirement led to successive stages of modifications, sometimes over centuries. Both vitriolic and non-vitriolic inks used to modify Torah scrolls can be visually identical to each other. Furthermore, different non-vitriolic inks usually have an identical elemental composition. The solid material analysis evidence and its presentation as heat maps made it possible to discriminate between original and altered portions of text that in some cases would have been impossible. Our interdisciplinary work brought together conservation, material science, paleog-raphy, and philology to enable the identification of complex stratigraphy in multiple stages of production, correction, and reinking. ©2 0 2 2 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. KW - Spectroscopy KW - Scanning micro-X-ray fluorescence KW - Vitriolic iron-gall inks KW - Non-vitriolic iron-gall inks KW - Heat maps KW - Torah scrolls KW - Scribal corrections PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-557271 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2022.07.007 SN - 1296-2074 VL - 57 SP - 142 EP - 148 PB - Elsevier Masson SAS AN - OPUS4-55727 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Maltomini, F. A1 - Ghigo, T. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Fournet, J.-L. ED - Kramer, B. ED - Luppe, W. ED - Maehler, H. ED - McGing, B. ED - Poethke, G. ED - Reiter, F. ED - Richter, S. T1 - Florentine papyri under examination: The material study of the inks used at the beginning of the Common Era in the "Family of Kôm Kâssûm" Archive (Hermopolis) N2 - Carbon inks with metallic admixtures are found on some papyri of the 2nd century CE from a family archive in Hermopolis. The great diversity of inks found in a single household within a short period of time suggests that inks were purchased rather than self-made. KW - Carbon ink KW - Iron-gall ink KW - Mixed ink KW - XRF ink analysis KW - Family archives KW - Hermopolis PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1515/apf-2021-0010 SN - 0066-6459 SN - 1867-1551 VL - 67 IS - 1 SP - 146 EP - 165 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-53160 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Ghigo, Tea A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Gaining Perspective into the Materiality of Manuscripts: The Contribution of Archaeometry to the Study of the Inks of the White Monastery Codices N2 - An interdisciplinary approach to the study of manuscript traditions is here applied to the analysis of the leaves from the White Monastery, one of the greatest centres of literary production in Late Antique Egypt. In the framework of the ‘PAThs’ project, archaeometric analyses complement the information pieced together by a range of disciplines in the field of humanities. The use of different complementary analytical techniques provides information on the type of ink used and its elemental composition, unveiling interesting details regarding the materials and methodology of manufacturing of writing media. Moreover, this contribution takes a step forward and discusses the possible existence of a regional arrangement in the elemental composition revealed in the inks studied. KW - Manuscript making KW - Archaeometry KW - Ink analysis KW - Interdisciplinary approach KW - Coptic studies PY - 2020 SP - 273 EP - 282 AN - OPUS4-51003 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 - Glaser, L. A1 - Shevchuk, I. A1 - Tolkiehn, M. A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Hahn, Oliver T1 - Improving Iron Gall Ink Palimpsest X-ray Fluorescence Element Mapping Analysis N2 - In the recent years multispectral imaging and X-ray Fluorescence element mapping have established themselves as a well working two step approach, when dealing with faded, erased or overwritten text in iron gall ink. During the last years a lot was done to improve the mere technical side of the techniques. Especially in the case of XRF mapping experiments the acquisition speed needed to be increased to allow mapping in the high resolution demanded by the challenges at hand. High resolution in moderate times can now be achieved, but with the price of proportionally increased amount of data that needs to be processed ideally in parallel to the measurement. The classical approach in XRF spectroscopy of elemental fitting of the spectral data does not even come close to fulfill any on the fly processing time constraints and will consume too much processing time in the foreseeable future. In this paper we will discuss the applicability of modern statistical data processing methods to XRF mapping of iron gall ink palimpsests. We will present a comparison of a new approach based on principle and independent component analysis (PCA and ICA) and the standard element mapping method. We will show that a reduction in processing time of almost two orders of magnitude can easily be achieved. T2 - Kongress Visual Heritage, CHNT 23 CY - Vienna, Austria DA - 15.11.2018 KW - Palimpsest KW - Iron-gall ink PY - 2020 SP - 1.1 EP - 1.9 AN - OPUS4-50243 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 - GEN A1 - Gruskovà, J. A1 - Martin, G. A1 - Kresten, O. A1 - Mitthoff, F. A1 - Kaska, K. A1 - Hofmann, C. A1 - Kreuzer, W. A1 - Phelps, M. A1 - Boydston, K. A1 - Easton Jr., R. L. A1 - Knox, K. T. A1 - Kelbe, D. A1 - Kasotakis, D. A1 - Christens-Barry, W. A. A1 - Stewart, D. A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Glaser, L. A1 - Garrevoet, J. A1 - Shevchuk, I. A1 - Klumpp, S. A1 - Deckers, D. A1 - Buck, J. ED - Cronier, M. ED - Mondrain, B. T1 - Insights-into-the-Digital-Recovery-of-the-Scythica-Vindobonesia N2 - The Scythica Vindobonensia, the new fragments on Gothic incursions into Roman provinces in the Balkans in the middle of the third century AD that were revealed some years ago in a Greek palimpsest at the Austrian National Library in Vienna (ÖNB), are commonly considered as one of the most important additions of the last decades to the corpus of texts from classical Antiquity. Tere is a high degree of confdence among scholars in supposing that the fragments come from the lost work Scythica written in Greek by the third-century historian P. Herennius Dexippus (Δέξιππος) of Athens. The new fragments have hence also been called Dexippus Vindobonensis. In his Scythica, Dexippus recorded wars of the Romans with the Goths (and other tribes) whom he called Scythians. The work had been hitherto known only from excerpts and quotes by later authors. Eight pages of a Byzantine manuscript copy of the ancient text have survived hidden underneath the visible surface of the last four parchment folios of the Vienna manuscript Historicus graecus 73, f. 192r -195v4. The copy is written in a Greek calligraphic minuscule which has been estimated by palaeographers to be of the middle or the second half of the eleventh century. In the thirteenth century, the text (on each of the eight pages arranged in one column, with 30 lines per page) was washed of the parchment and the valuable material made from animal skin was re-used for Christian texts. The new writing largely covered the faded remnants of the original text. It thus became hidden from the human eye for more than seven hundred years. Its discovery by Jana Grusková, a classical philologist specialized in the transmission of Greek texts, resulted from a systematic review of all Greek palimpsests kept at the Austrian National Library in Vienna at the beginning of the twenty-first century and a detailed examination of the four folios in 2007-20097. KW - Scythica Vindobonensia, KW - Gothic incursions KW - A Greek palimpsest KW - Antiquity KW - Byzantine manuscript KW - Vienna manuscript PY - 2020 SN - 978-2-916716-81-7 SN - 0577-1471 VL - 2020 IS - 24/1 SP - 945 EP - 967 PB - Association des Amis du Centre d’Histoire et Civilisation de Byzance CY - Paris ET - 1 AN - OPUS4-53843 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nehring, Grzegorz A1 - Bonnerot, Olivier A1 - Gerhardt, M. A1 - Krutzsch, M. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Looking for the missing link in the evolution of black inks N2 - In the transition from carbon to iron-gall inks, the two documents from the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in Berlin with shelfmarks P 13500 and P 13501 discussed in this work present an important case. Their inks appear brownish, although they date back to the fourth and third century BCE, when carbon inks are believed to have been commonly if not exclusively used. Using imaging micro-X-ray fluorescence and infrared reflectography, we discovered that the inks in both documents contain a significant amount of copper in addition to carbon. Comparing the extant recipes for black writing inks and the experimental evidence, we suggest that these inks are a transition between the pure carbon and the iron-gall inks. Such inks may have been quite common before the production of iron-gall ink was clearly understood and established. KW - Black writing ink KW - Hellenistic KW - Papyrus KW - XRF imaging KW - NIR imaging PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-523708 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01320-5 VL - 13 IS - 4 SP - Article 71 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-52370 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 - 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 - GEN A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Raggetti, L. T1 - Material Studies of Historic Inks: Transition from Carbon to Iron-Gall Inks N2 - This chapter offers observations and considerations concerning black writing inks encountered in writing supports transmitting documentary and literary texts of the late Antiquity and early Middle Ages. It discusses different types of inks, the Methods of their detection and their use in different times and geographical areas. KW - Material analysis KW - Writing inks KW - Ink fingerprint PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-528057 DO - https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004444805_006 SP - 70 EP - 78 PB - Brill CY - Leiden AN - OPUS4-52805 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Methoden und Erkenntnismöglichkeiten von Tintenanalysen N2 - Der Vortrag stellt die Palette der zerstörungsfreien analytischen Methoden, die zur Identifizierung und Vergleich der Tinten, Tuschen und Pigmente verwendet werden. T2 - Experten-Workshop CY - Hamburg, Germany DA - 06.10.2022 KW - Tinte KW - Tusche KW - Pigmente PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-61195 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Berkes, L. A1 - Nehring, Grzegorz A1 - Bonnerot, O. A1 - Krutzsch, M. A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Richter, T. S. T1 - Mixed Inks in Two Coptic Documents from the Hermopolite Region Relating to Lease Business N2 - In this article, we present two Coptic papyri, P 11934 and P 11935 from the Berlin collection excavated in Ashmunein (ancient Hermopolis) by Otto Rubensohn in 1906. We employ a multi-disciplinary approach that takes into account both their materiality – writing support as well as ink – and their content, as has become ‘best practice’. 1 Material aspects of written documents have traditionally been the purview of papyrologists. Recently developed methods of scientific analysis generate sets of archaeometric data with the potential to improve understanding of the materiality of ancient document production, as well as to yield new evidence for genuine papyrological research questions. To achieve this, a large corpus of comparative data needs to be built. Our contribution offers a first step in this direction. We aim at presenting the papyri, which were selected because of the ink corrosion during conservation work at the Berlin collection, in a format that is exhaustive both for material and textual aspects. The inks from both papyri were analysed using a combination of techniques, contributing to our better understanding of the development of ink technology in Late Antiquity. KW - Coptic papyri KW - Methods of scientific analysis KW - Sets of archaeometric data KW - Mixed Inks KW - Ink corrosion KW - Ancient document production PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-579948 DO - https://doi.org/10.48631/pylon.2023.3.98234 SN - 2751-4722 VL - 2023/3 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - Ceative Commons Attribution ShareAlike CY - Heidelberg, Germany AN - OPUS4-57994 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Russel, R.E. ED - Lange, A. T1 - Non-invasive Analytic Tools in Studies of Manuscripts N2 - Physico-chemical analyses of writing materials offer insight into various questions associated with historical, cultural, and conservational aspects of manuscript studies. The catalogue of questions that can be addressed with these methods includes authenticity, dating, the attribution of various parts of the text to different scribes and the relation between the primary and secondary texts. Similarly, preservation of the manuscripts requires knowledge of the composition of the original materials versus old repairs, identification of damage, as well as recognition of natural aging and degradation processes. The material sciences can contribute data about the chemical compositions of the writing materials, elucidation of the techniques of their production and the absolute age of organic components, as well as characterization of corrosion effects, evaluation of conservation treatment, and monitoring of the preservation state. KW - Material Analysis KW - Manuscripts PY - 2023 SN - 2468-3027 VL - 3D SP - 114 EP - 116 PB - Brill CY - Leiden / Boston AN - OPUS4-58912 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 - 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 - JOUR A1 - Bodechtel, S. A1 - Fuhrmann, A. A1 - Henning, A. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Kreische, W. A1 - Mäder, M. T1 - The Madonna with the Wash-Basin by Giulio Romano: A Multidisciplinary Study of the Painting’s History N2 - In an interdisciplinary collaboration, restorers, art historians, and scientists examined Guilio Romano’s The Madonna with the Wash-Basin of 1525 (Dresden State Art Collections). Insights into the painting technique along with art historical comparisons provided the opportunity for a better understanding of the painting’s genesis, in particular concerning an early reworking of the background by the artist. A recovery and reconstruction of the earlier version of the background is now possible. The discovery of zinc in distinct passages of the painting, as well as the grey-black pigment stibnite and glass particles used as a supplement in paint layers are of special interest. The technological investigation initiated a discussion about the circumstances of the revision, as well as the painting’s relation to Vasari’s Lives of Artists. KW - Giulio Romano KW - Holy Family KW - Basin KW - Reworking KW - Pentimenti KW - Portrayal of St Joseph KW - Sixteenth-century painting technique KW - Raphael school KW - Zinc KW - Antimony black (stibnite) KW - Vasari PY - 2022 DO - https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2022.2118302 VL - 2022 SP - 2 EP - 12 PB - Routledge Taylor & Francis Group CY - London, UK AN - OPUS4-55970 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - Binder, J. T1 - The marginal notes of Tosefta MS Erfurt N2 - Manuscript Erfurt 12 of the Tosefta (now Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Ms. or. fol. 1220) is one of three major textual witnesses of the Tosefta. This manuscript has over 80 marginal notes which have not merited scholarly attention. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of all the marginal notes, including an evaluation of their ink composition, a palaeographic assessment of the scripts, as well as a philological assessment of their contents. Combining these methodologies differentiates between the glosses of the scribe and those added by later hands and identifies their provenance, allowing us to trace the history of the manuscript via the emendations that took place in the scholarly communities in which the manuscript was studied. One of the important outcomes of the research is an early dating of the manuscript to eleventh-century Italy, overturning the scholarly view which dates the manuscript to twelfth-century Rhineland KW - Hebrew Manuscripts KW - Ink KW - NIR KW - XRF PY - 2025 DO - https://doi.org/10.3828/jjs.2025.76.2.272 SN - 0022-2097 VL - 76 IS - 2 SP - 272 EP - 300 AN - OPUS4-64770 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Dietz, G. A1 - Eggert, Claudia A1 - Golle, U. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Ketelsen, T. A1 - Ludwig, A. A1 - Melzer, C. A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Wintermann, C. ED - Hahn, Oliver ED - Doil, Thorsten ED - Wintermann, C. T1 - The materiality of drawings - A scientific approach N2 - Volume 5 of the N.i.Ke. series presents the current state of materials science and imaging techniques used in the examination of drawings. The first part of the publication introduces the classic drawing substrates and materials. The middle part of the publication describes the relevant materials science and imaging techniques. The final part discusses the possibilities and limitations of these methods using several case studies. KW - Archaeometry KW - Paper KW - Parchment KW - Drawing materials KW - Drawings KW - Nondestructive testing PY - 2024 SN - 2567-1251 N1 - Es gibt eine parallele Sprachausgabe (deutsch), ein Link befindet sich im Feld zugehöriger Identifikator - There is a parallel language edition (German), a link is in the field related identifier VL - 5 SP - VII EP - 110 PB - Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-63672 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Caldararo, N. A1 - Rimon, H. ED - Russel, R.E. ED - Lange, A. T1 - The Role of DNA Analysis in the Study of the Biblical Manuscripts N2 - Interest in the type of skin used in scriptural materials and preparation methods increased from the nineteenth into the twentieth century. This was due partly to the number of newly discovered fragments and to the invention of new instruments and scientific procedures to identify animal skins and produce qualitative means to demonstrate specific preparation reagents and techniques. The invention of various means of analyzing the DNA of organic materials brought about a revolution in archaeology and in conservation. Difficulties in overcoming contamination of archaeological samples resulted in a number of controversies but also produced advances and improvement in the techniques of ancient DNA analysis and interpretation of results. KW - DNA KW - Dead Sea Scrolls KW - Parchment PY - 2023 SN - 2468-3027 VL - 3D SP - 120 EP - 123 PB - Brill CY - Leiden / Boston AN - OPUS4-58914 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 - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Tintencharakterisierung: Optische Eigenschaften und elementare Zusammensetzung N2 - Die Präsentation beschreibt alle Typen der schwarzen Schreibmaterialien, die in der Antike und Mittelalter benutzt wurden. Weiterhin wir das bei der BAM entwickelte Untersuchungsprotokoll präsentiert, das aus zwei Stufen besteht: a) der Feststellung des Tintentyps anhand der optischen Eigenschaften; die Ausrechnung von den Fingerprints der Eisengallustinten anhand der elementaren Zusammensetzung. Die Arbeit wird durch Fallbeispiele illustriert. T2 - Schriftkulturen des Mittelalters in digitaler Perspektive CY - Berlin, Germany DA - 22.08.2025 KW - Tinte KW - Tusche PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-64775 LA - deu AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rabin, Ira ED - D'Angelo, M. ED - Essler, H. ED - Nikolardi, F. T1 - Tracing the same Path T1 - Tradizione e innovazione nella papirologia ercolanese tra Germania e Italia T1 - Tradition und Fortschritt in der herkulanischen Papyrologie zwischen Deutschland und Italien 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 identifying and characterizing metallic components of inks. Besides the instrumental methods, the paper presents an overview of historic inks in the period of transition from carbon inks of the Antiquity to iron-gall inks commonly used in the Middle Ages. KW - Carbon ink KW - Mixed ink KW - Iron-gall ink KW - Instrumental analysis of ink KW - Optical properties of ink PY - 2021 SN - 0391-1535 VL - 2021 IS - 228 SP - 175 EP - 180 PB - Centro Internazionale per lo Studio dei Papiri Ercolanesi ‘Marcello Gigante’ CY - Napoli, Italy AN - OPUS4-53975 LA - ita AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grzegorz, Nehring A1 - Krutzsch, M. A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Tuschenanalyse im P 11702 T1 - Ink Analysis in P 11702 N2 - Near-inframed reflectography and imaging X-Ray flourescence analysis reveal that carbon inks of two different compositions were used in the papyrus manuscript Berlin P 11702. in contrast with the writing ink, one of the carbon drawing inks contained a significant addition of iron. This result emphasises the need for routine instrumental ink analysis. KW - Papyrus KW - Ink analysis KW - X-Ray flourescence spectroscopy KW - Near-infrared refelctography PY - 2021 DO - https://doi.org/10.1515/apf-2021-0026 SN - 1867-1551 VL - 67 IS - 2 SP - 277 EP - 282 PB - De Gruyter AN - OPUS4-53942 LA - deu 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 -