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- Writing materials (3)
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- Non-destructive testing (2)
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- Archaeometry (1)
- Carbon ink (1)
- Chlorine to bromine ratio (1)
- Dark matrix (1)
- Dead Sea scrolls (1)
- FTIR (1)
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 library of the remote monastery of Qäqäma Maryam Kidanä Mehrät in Däg'a Tämben (Tagray, North Ethiopia) was investigated by the team of the project Ethio-SPaRe in June and November 2012. A preliminary study of the library showed that the collection was extended and profoundly renovated in the nineteenth Century, in the course of the revival the monastery had during the reign of King Yohannas IV (1872-89). The shaping of the collection was apparently linked to the figure of the powerful abbot, Gäbrä Giyorgis, who donated dozens of books of diverse provenance, which he himself gathered or received as gifts.1 As the result, the extensive library contains a huge amount of information, but its heterogeneity poses a very serious challenge to the researcher.
The Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project (NGMPP) microfilmed two sets of the rNying margyud 'bum: in 1989 the set stored in the National Archives in Kathmandu (NAK) and in 1992 another set during an expedition to Nubri, Samagaon. Both microfilming were carried out under the local director of the Nepal Research Centre (NRC) in Kathmandu, and who has also discussed the two (and other) rNying ma rgyud 'bum sets on several occasions.2 The NAK and Nubri rNying ma rgyud 'bum sets were extensively studied and catalogued (Almogi) within the framework of the Tibetology sub-project "The Manuscript Collections of supervision of Franz-Karl Ehrhard, who was at the time the the Ancient Tantras (rNying ma rgyud 'bum): An Examination of Variance," conducted at the Researcher Group "Manuscript Cultures in Asia and Africa," University of Hamburg (2008-2011).
This article presents the findings resulting from the material analysis of several Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts from a corpus partly preserved in Nepal, viz. in the National Archives, Kathmandu (NAK), and in the Kaiser Library (KL), which is likewise situated in Kathmandu. The analysis was undertaken in March 2013. The colleagues of the NAK allocated a room in their precincts to us, where we could set up our mobile laboratory, and gave us access to the required manuscripts from their holdings. The officials of the KL, in turn, allowed us to take some of their valuable and ancient manuscripts to the NAK. In this way, we were enabled to conduct multi-instrumental studies on writing materials of great antiquity and interest.
The analysis of physical and chemical properties of artefacts provides important data for answering questions that cannot be solved by historical and philological methods alone. In its individual materiality, each manuscript is the result of various influences (e.g. production, storage, restoration, preservation). Given the recent technological developments (e.g. miniaturization of structural units, enlargement of memory capacity), technical diagnostics of art and cultural objects are becoming increasingly sought after in trans-disciplinary research. In this review we present a multi-instrumental approach to the investigation of manuscripts. Several case studies will illuminate our methodology.