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- Archaeometry (3)
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- Cairo Genizah (1)
- Conservation science (1)
- Dead Sea Scrolls (1)
- Dead sea scrolls (1)
- Ink fingerprint (1)
- Iron gall ink (1)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
The aim of our work was to check whether the assumption that the jar was discovered in Qumran can be substantiated. In order to establish the archaeological provenance of the jar we conducted a series of analytical tests on samples of material collected from the jar in April and June 2009. The samples were either found loose within the jar, these being probably constituted by remnants of its original contents, or were clay detached from the inner and outer surface of the jar. In addition, a portion of sand deposit coating the inside of the jar handles was analysed.
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.
The International Qumran project conducted at the BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing in 2007–10 aimed at establishing an optimal methodology for an accurate characterization of the Dead Sea Scrolls to address such questions as archaeological provenance, origin, and attribution of fragments to a specific sheet (Rabin 2013). Using equipment of various degrees of complexity we have shown that part of the historic information stored in the material can be revealed by proper characterization of the material. The on-site investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments from The Schøyen Collection in October 2012 offered the first chance to test this methodology in a field study. For the first time, we used mobile and non-invasive technology exclusively, since we could not transport all of our laboratory equipment to Norway for this project. Moreover, besides the technical limitations dictated by the available equipment, we had to cope with limited time: it was impossible to perform the number of scans required for optimal characterization of over 30 fragments within the fourteen days available. Nevertheless this study presents an important step in the material analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls, since the devices we used are easily transportable, well known, and easily accessible throughout the world.
We have obtained a minute amount of dry ink scratched from the bronze inkwell MS 1655/2. The powder was stored between two glass slides to minimize contamination. For micro analysis by FTIR a sample of the ink powder was transferred into a diamond cell while for confocal Raman spectroscopy a micro sample was placed onto sticky tape. The same portion of the sample was also investigated by scanning electron microscopy, where the elements distribution was determined by EDX.
Our current projects focus on the material analysis of the writing materials
kept in the Taylor-Schechter Collection at Cambridge University Library,
which houses the largest collection of Cairo Geniza fragments, about 190,000.
Although Geniza manuscripts have attracted a great deal of scholarly attention,
the material aspects of these documents seem to have been largely neglected.
The current study aims to obtain information on the composition of the writing
supports and the inks that were used, the production of the original manuscripts
and the history of their degradation. The collected data should supplement the
description based on Hebrew palaeography and codicology. Moreover, a characterisation
of the writing materials would provide insights on trade, local production
techniques and social structures. The tabulated results have the potential to
be used as geo-chronological markers if sufficient data is collected.
For our study, we chose Hebrew legal documents and letters from three communities
that co-existed in Fustat (today Cairo) in the 11th century: the Jerusalemite
(or ‘Palestinian’) community, the Babylonian community and the Karaites, three
different communities with different scribal traditions. In addition to this, we
studied non-biblical scrolls attributed to the Palestinian and Babylonian communities.
The question we addressed was whether we can correlate the use of a
specific type of ink to an objective criterion.
For our analysis at Cambridge University Library, we used a number of protocols
developed at BAM (Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung) in
Berlin and at the Centre for Study of Manuscript Cultures, University of Hamburg
(CSMC). These include reflectographic examination followed by non-destructive
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis using transportable instruments so that the
analysis can be carried out in situ.
We have illustrated our approach here by providing two examples. The first one
describes our investigation of the leather fragment containing a portion of the
Babylonian Talmud on its hair side (TS Misc.26.53.17). The second example illustrates
our ability to compare iron-gall inks using the XRF method. In this case,
we explored the question of the codicological attribution of three fragments (TS
F17.4, TS 12.755 and TS 12.756) to the same Talmud manuscript.
As part of the Qumran project conducted at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin between 2007 and 2010, my colleagues and I developed a new, integrated methodology for determining the original and acquired properties of highly heterogeneous Dead Sea Scrolls. The purpose of this methodology is to help scholars determine the provenance of fragments of the scrolls and sort and compare them more easily than in the past. Since our measurements allowed us to differentiate between the minerals originating from the production processes and the sediments accrued during storage in the caves in Qumran, we were able to reconstruct the treatment of hides and discovered that at least two distinct parchmentproduction techniques co-existed at the beginning of the common era.
The reconstruction of workmanship on animal hides in Antiquity raised doubts about the validity of the current definition of parchment, which is based on a production technique known from the Middle Ages. We hope that our current work will also help researchers understand the characteristic properties of gewil, qelaf and dukhsustos better.¹
The evolution and socio-geographic distribution of writing inks in late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages are the second focus of our investigative work at BAM.
We use X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) to determine the chemical composition of inks and NIR reflectography for their typology. We are amply assisted in our ambitious enterprise by codicologists and palaeographers who have adopted our methodology and conduct field studies of their own.