TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Analyzing historic inks: From antiquity to the Middle Ages. N2 - While studying the socio-geographic history of inks, division 4.5 of the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und Prüfung (BAM) together with the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) in Hamburg has developed a non-invasive protocol for ink analysis. It consists of a primary reflectographic screening to determine the type of the ink (soot, tannin or iron-gall) and a subsequent in-depth analysis using several spectroscopic techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Infrared and Raman spectroscopies. The first of them, XRF elemental analysis aims at establishing the unique fingerprints of inks containing metals or trace elements in carbon inks. In addition, we use Raman analysis to identify so-called mixed inks, an ink category that received little attention so far. Finally, with the help of IR spectroscopy we obtain information about the ink binders. T2 - Coptic Literature in Context. The Contexts of Coptic Literature Late Antique Egypt in a dialogue between literature, archaeology and digital humanities CY - Rom, Italy DA - 25.02.2019 KW - Ink PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-48135 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Evolution of writing black inks N2 - The evolution and socio-geographic distribution of writing inks from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages are one of the foci of our investigative work at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) in Berlin and the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg University. This presentation will examine the inks used by Jews in the in different geographical zones try to correlate the results of the material analysis with written records and existing traditions. We will compare the inks proposed by Maimonides, who lived in 12th-century Egypt, with the considerations of Rashi, who lived in 11th-century northern France, and see that they both advocated use of the inks commonly known and produced in their respective regions. It is Maimonides who proposes to add tannins to the soot inks, but rejects the metallic salt, both of which were practices that were well attested in contemporary Arabic recipes for making ink. In contrast, Rashi was favourable to employing the plant inks in use in contemporary Northern Europe. T2 - Jewish-Christian Relations from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean: Evidence from Material Culture CY - Bochum, Germany DA - 26.03.2019 KW - Ink KW - Jewish cultures PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-48136 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Hahn, Oliver T1 - Inks and pigments N2 - The writing materials used in various cultures and epochs can be divided into two groups. The first comprises materials that write themselves, producing script by rubbing their own material off onto the writing surface. It includes charcoal, graphite, chalk, raddle, and metal styluses. Depending on the material and consistency, these are cut or pressed to make styluses and then used for writing. The second group comprises all coloring liquids that are applied to the writing surface with a quill, pen, or printing block. It includes inks made from dye solutions (for example, tannin inks) and those made from pigment dispersions (for example, sepia, soot, and bister inks). The latter are sometimes also rubbed as pastes into letters incised into the writing surface, where they increase visual contrast. Due to the variety of recipes and the natural origin of raw materials, there is a wide range of different components and impurities in writing materials. Soluble inks (Tinten) Soluble inks are based mainly on dyes forming a water solution. Colored inks were manufactured with different plant or insect dyes (e.g. Brazil wood, kermes). To stabilize the volatile material, the dyes were mixed with a mordant (e.g., alum). Brown plant inks – best-known as blackthorn or Theophilus’ inks – are usually produced from the blackthorn bark and wine. In the early European Middle Ages, inks of this kind were widely used in the production of manuscripts in monasteries. Usually, they are light brown, so sometimes small amounts of iron sulfate were added, which led to what was called an “imperfect” iron gall ink. The difference between “classic” iron gall ink and such imperfect ink is therefore not clear: the distinction is not possible, especially with the naked eye. Dispersion inks (Tuschen) According to its generic recipe, one of the oldest black writing materials is produced by mixing soot with a binder dissolved in a small amount of water. Thus, along with soot, binders such as gum arabic (ancient Egypt) or animal glue (China) are among the main components of soot inks. From Pliny’s detailed account of the manufacture of various soot-based inks, we learn that, despite its seeming simplicity, producing pure soot of high quality was not an easy task in Antiquity. Therefore, we expect to find various detectable additives that might be indicative of the time and place of production. One such carbon ink requires the addition of copper sulfate . The experimental discovery of this ink in 1990 led to a misleading expression “metal ink” that is sometimes found in the literature. Colored dispersion inks based on pigments such as orpiment, cinnabar, or azurite have been known since Antiquity. Natural or artificially produced minerals are finely ground and dispersed in a binding medium. As in soot inks, water-soluble binders such as gum arabic or egg white were used. Iron gall ink (Eisengallustinten) Iron gall inks are a borderline case between these two groups. They are produced from four basic ingredients: galls, vitriol as the main source of iron, gum arabic as a binding media, and an aqueous medium such as wine, beer, or vinegar. By mixing gallic acid with iron sulfate, a water-soluble ferrous gallate complex is formed; this product belongs to the type “soluble inks”. Due to its solubility, the ink penetrates the writing support’s surface, making it difficult to erase. Exposure to oxygen leads to the formation of insoluble black ferric gallate pigment, i.e., “dispersion ink”. Natural vitriol consists of a varying mixture of metal sulfates. Since for ink making it was obtained from different mines and by various techniques, inks contain many other metals, like copper, aluminum, zinc, and manganese, in addition to the iron sulfate. These metals do not contribute to color formation in the ink solution, but possibly change the chemical properties of the inks. T2 - Summer School Manusciences 19 CY - Frejus, France DA - 10.03.2019 KW - Ink KW - Material science KW - Cultural heritage PY - 2019 AN - OPUS4-48139 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Schlanger, Judith T1 - Quelles informations une approche archéométrique peut-elle nous apporter pour enrichir notre connaissance des manuscrits hébreux et du monde de la Génizah du Caire ? N2 - L'archéométrie est une discipline riche qui peut nous apporter beaucoup d'informations sur l'étude des manuscrits et qui, conjuguée à la paléographie et la codicologie, peut s'apporter un outil précieux pour mieux appréhender les sociétés qui ont produits ces manuscrits. Nous verrons ici quelques exemples de techniques scientifiques non destructives, principalement appliqués à la Génizah du Caire, appliquées à l'étude des manuscrits. T2 - Tagung CY - Paris, France DA - 10.12.2018 KW - XRF KW - Ink KW - Archaeometry KW - Manuscripts KW - Non destructive PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-47098 LA - fra AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Cohen, Zina A1 - Schlanger, J. A1 - Hahn, Oliver A1 - Rabin, Ira T1 - Cairo Genizah documents of the 11th century: analysis of writing materials N2 - The Cairo Geniza is an “archive” discovered in the 19th century in Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, a district in Old Cairo (Egypt). The collection of mostly Jewish documents that vary in genres, languages and writing supports contains a large number of early medieval Hebrew manuscripts. The Geniza provides sources for the literary, linguistic, historical studies of the various aspects Jewish life. As the documents attest, at least two Jewish communities co-existed in Fustat up to 11th century: a so-called Babylonian and Palestinian. These communities had different leaders, different traditions and lived independently. The differences seem to manifest themselves also in the paleographical, codicological and some material properties of the manuscripts produced by each community. The aim of this project is to compare the inks used in the Jewish documents depending on different variables: support (paper, parchment), purpose of the manuscript (legal, private, religious), provenance of the scribe. For the determination of the inks type and composition we had to choose non-invasive, non-destructive and portable techniques to analyze the corpus directly on-situ. The analyses were carried out with a micro-X-ray spectrometer ArtTAX® (Bruker GmbH) and a digital stereomicroscope features built-in LED illumination at 395 nm and 940nm, Dino Lite. We would like to stress that though the methods of material analysis listed above have been successfully employed in the field of cultural heritage and conservation including ancient and medieval manuscripts they have not yet been used to study fragments from the Cairo Genizah. Therefore, we believe that this research project is a pioneering study that will provide new insights into the history of Hebrew writing materials, their production techniques and materials and, thus, contribute new data to the field of Hebrew paleography. T2 - Konferenz Art&Archaeology2018 – 3rd International Conference CY - Jerusalem, Israel DA - 09.12.2018 KW - XRF KW - Ink KW - Manuscripts KW - Cairo Genizah KW - Reflectography PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-47100 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -