Filtern
Dokumenttyp
- Zeitschriftenartikel (12) (entfernen)
Sprache
- Englisch (12)
Schlagworte
- Archaeometry (12) (entfernen)
Organisationseinheit der BAM
The quest for the mixed inks
(2018)
In this article, we would like to share our observations concerning the inks produced by intentionally mixing soot or charcoal with tannin extracts or iron-gall ink. Aside from Zerdoun’s mention in her outstanding review of written sources, “Les encres noires au Moyen-Âge”, this ink category has received little if any attention from scholars and scientists. And yet, if analytically attested, the use of such inks could serve as an additional category to classify and distinguish the writing inks on the historical socio-geographic map of the writing inks we are trying to build.
The Erfurt Hebrew Giant Bible and the Experimental XRF Analysis of Ink and Plummet Composition
(2007)
Ancient papyri are a written heritage of culture that flourished more than 3000 years ago in Egypt. One of the most significant collections in the world is housed in the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in Berlin, from where the samples for our investigation come. The papyrologists, curators and conservators of such collections search intensely for the analytical detail that would allow ancient papyri to be distinguished from modern fabrications, in order to detect possible forgeries, assess papyrus deterioration state, and improve the design of storage conditions and conservation methods. This has become the aim of our investigation. The samples were studied by a number of methods, including spectroscopic (FTIR, fluorescent-FS, Raman) diffractional (XRD) and chromatographic (size exclusion chromatography-SEC), selected in order to determine degradation parameters: overall oxidation of lignocellulosic material, degree of polymerization and crystallinity of cellulose. The results were correlated with those obtained from carefully selected model samples including modern papyri and paper of different composition aged at elevated temperature in humid air. The methods were classified in the order SEC > FS > FTIR > XRD, based on their effectiveness in discriminating the state of papyri degradation. However, the most trustworthy evaluation of the age of papyri samples should rely on several methods.
In this study, we address the question of the
provenance and origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts.
A characteristic low ratio of chlorine to bromine, corresponding
to that of the Dead Sea water, may serve as an indicator for
local production. For this aim we developed a non-destructive
procedure to determine the Cl/Br ratio in the parchment of
these manuscripts. Micro-X-ray fluorescence (µ-XRF) measurements
of a large number of parchment and leather
fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls were analyzed with a
routine we developed based on fundamental parameter
quantification. This routine takes into account the absorption
of the collagen matrix and the influence of the different sample
thicknesses. To calculate the representative Cl/Br ratio for each
fragment, we investigated the lateral homogeneity and
determined the total mass deposition using the intensity of
the inelastically scattered, characteristic tube radiation. The
distribution of the Cl/Br ratios thus obtained from the µ-XRF
measurements make it possible to distinguish fragments
whose origin lies within the Dead Sea region from those
produced in other locations.
The manuscript Codex germanicus 1 (Cod. germ. 1) of the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg is a fifteenth-century German-language manuscript. It comprises two codicological units and has an especially complex developmental history. To trace this developmental history, neglected until now in the research literature, the manuscript was investigated, for the first time not solely with classical codicological and palaeographical methods, but also with the aid of X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, in order to determine the composition of the writing materials. These methods made it possible, first, to support and check palaeographic findings and, second, to gain information about the stratigraphy of the manuscript where palaeographic methods find their limits – in regard to short entries, rubrications, and non-alphabetical signs.
In this study we demonstrate the possibility to identify the production area of the scrolls, coupling non-destructive quantitative analysis of race elements to spectroscopic investigation of the inks. This approach, that allowed us to determine the Dead Sea area as origin of 1QHodayot, is of general validity.
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.
Abstract For many years after the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, text analysis and fragment attribution were the main concern of the scholars dealing with them. The uncertain archaeological provenance of a large part of the collection added an additional difficulty to the formidable task of sorting thousands of fragments. After sixty years of scholarly research, the questions of origin, archaeological provenance, and correct attribution of the fragments are still debated. In many cases, material characterization of the scroll writing media delivers answers to these questions. Physical and chemical examination of the skin-based material of the Dead Sea Scrolls started shortly after their discovery. Subsequent studies dedicated to long-term preservation resulted in a respectable body of knowledge about this material, in many ways very different from medieval parchment. A new multi-instrumental approach, developed for an accurate characterization of the highly inhomogeneous 'parchment' of the Dead Sea Scrolls, might lead to a reliable reconstruction of their history. This approach is illustrated by the case studies, in which we discuss the specific questions of origin (1QHa), archaeological provenance (11QTa), and post-discovery interventions (1QapGen ar).
It is well documented that throughout Antiquity, ancient Egyptians used mostly carbon inks as a writing material. In Late Antiquity, some metals started to be added to carbon based inks. We have records of five manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls collection whose carbon inks were found to contain copper Also, lead was recently found as an additive in carbon inks on a charred fragment from Herculaneum. Furthermore, the earliest evidence of iron-gall ink was found in the Book of Proverbs (Codex Ms. Berol. orient. oct. 987) dating to the third fourth centuries ce. It has been suggested that along with carbon and iron-gall inks, there is no reason to think that purely tannin inks were not also in use in Egypt. However, so far, we just have evidence of a copper-tannin ink identified in a number of documents from Egypt in the first third centuries bce. In an attempt to fill this gap in this extremely fragmented scenario during our studies of the socio-geographic history of inks, we arrived at the conclusion that the continuous production of Coptic manuscripts from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages offers a unique opportunity for the historical study of inks across a large geographic area.