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 - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/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 - Rabin, Ira A1 - Krutzsch, M. T1 - The Writing Surface Papyrus and its Materials N2 - Our experimental knowledge about the inks of antiquity and late antiquity rarely goes beyond their visual description. In rare cases, inks typology has been determined by means of microscopy and reflectography, i.e. using their physical and optical properties, respectively. Since carbon, plant and iron gall inks belong to different classes of compounds they could be easily distinguished had only pure inks been used. Even these crude observations suggest that the inks used differed greatly in their composition. Reconstruction of the ink recipes with the help of advanced non-destructive analytical techniques could serve as a powerful accessory for in the studies of ancient papyri. The proposed paper will present a short survey of the methods of material analysis and the challenges offered by ancient inks. The examples of the ink studies from the collections of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and Egyptian Museum in Berlin will conclude the paper. T2 - 28th Congress of Papyrology CY - Barcelona, Spain DA - 01.08.2016 KW - Papyrus KW - Ink PY - 2019 SP - 773 EP - 781 AN - OPUS4-49532 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Ghigo, Tea 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 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 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 T1 - Archaeometric analysis of Coptic inks N2 - We try to get as closer as possible to the ink composition, given that we have to work with non-invasive techniqes and on very degraded supports. T2 - Summer School in Coptic Literature CY - Hamburg, Centre for study Manuscript cultures, Germany DA - 17-09-2018 KW - Ink KW - Archaeometry PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-46133 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -