More than meets the eye: Fibre and Paper Analysis of the Chinese Manuscripts from the Silk Roads

Abstract

This study contributes to the history of paper in Central Asia during the first millennium C.E. and aims to create a typology of paper based on a systematic study of Chinese manuscript collections found along the Silk Roads. The further aspect of this study aims to improve our knowledge of archaeometric research considered with the revision and test of scientific methodology which can then be used for historical and philological scholarship. By using fibre analysis and the technological study of paper combined with codicological and textual information, research has aimed to explore the possibilities for dating these materials, and fingerprinting their places of origin. The fact that many of Chinese manuscripts being studied (which are the oldest preserved and dated artefacts from Central Asia) are fixed in time by dates mentioned in colophons makes them valuable and reliable references for building a typology of paper and for comparative study of any yet to be discovered papers from that region. A sample of studied manuscripts comprises a total of 182 Chinese manuscripts selected from the Dunhuang Collection in the British Library in London, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris (BnF), the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts in St. Petersburg, and the Turfan collection in the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW) and the Berlin State Library (StaBi).

Utilizing different analytical techniques to determine the composition of the paper support of historical lithographic plate from Belzoni's Atlas

“…The technological features of paper support of lithographic plate were examined on a light box. At this stage, the following features were examined: -papermaking sieve type (woven or laid) attached to the mold, -Watermark on the paper to determine the time period of the paper and to identify the location of its manufacture [20].…”

“…The water on the slide was allowed to partially evaporate until the fibers were barely suspended and then the fibers were distributed evenly on the slide with a probe needle. [13,20,21]…”

Overview of paper and papermaking in Xinjiang, China

“…Ancient, dip-method-made "ma" or bast paper found in Xinjiang have also been discovered. The paper was comparatively thin with even surfaces and clear laid lines 37 , both regular and irregular, the former made by bamboo sieves and the latter by reed or other grass sieves 38 . The fragments of paper with laid lines found at the Astana and Khara-khoja tombs were also from between the Eastern Jin and the Tang Dynasties and had different numbers of lines per centimetre.…”

Rapid identification of bast fibers in ancient handmade papers based on improved characterization of lignin monomers by Py-GCxGC/MS

“…Ancient papers are of high cultural value as carriers for the information that can be decoded from their contents for historical and paleographical studies (Helman-Ważny, 2016;Sakamoto and Okada, 2013). Apart from their traditional use: writing support, painting support, administrative and official applications, paper has been used in specific applications such as joss paper (ghost money, Figure 1, Figure S1 in the Supplementary information) in rituals and ceremonies that greatly promoted cultural diversity in societal development Scott, 2007;Seaman, 1982).…”