Tracking ink composition on Herculaneum papyrus scrolls: quantification and speciation of lead by X-ray based techniques and Monte Carlo simulations

Tack, Pieter; Cotte, Marine; Bauters, Stephen; Brun, Emmanuel; Banerjee, Dipanjan; Bras, Wim; Ferrero, C.; Delattre, Daniel; Mocella, Vito; Vincze, László

doi:10.1038/srep20763

Cited by 36 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 33 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The only element that is significantly enhanced in the ink and not the papyrus is Pb, consistent with earlier research, where the Pb in the ink is believed to be hosted within the mineral galena (PbS) (Wagner et al ., 2007). High concentrations of lead have also been found in the ink of some Herculaneum papyri (Brun et al ., 2016), possibly resulting from pigments or drying agents; contamination from the water used to produce the ink is ruled out by the high Pb concentrations (Tack et al ., 2016). There is no indication of iron-gall inks (sensu Cockle, 1983; see also Edmonds, 1998) in any of the papyri examined.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which elements are useful for understanding the composition of ancient papyrus inks?

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry was used in mapping and spot analysis modes, to help identify which elements are useful for understanding the composition of ancient papyrus inks, for 25 papyri from four age groups. We report seven elements (Al, Si, P, S, Ca, Ti, Fe) which provide sufficient contrast to be useful for mapping analysis, and 16 elements (P, S, Cl, K, Ca, V, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Nb, Ag, Ba, and Pb) which show significant differences through time. Only one element – Pb – showed sufficient contrast in the thin ink layer to be significantly different when measured on the ink and adjacent papyrus. There is greater complexity in the elemental compositions of the papyrus and ink than can be understood with a study this size and additional work is required to develop and explain the patterns observed here.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Which elements are useful for understanding the composition of ancient papyrus inks?

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pliny does describe the use of minium (red lead) in books, but only for writing specific letters. These hypotheses are being tested by further experiments and will be discussed elsewhere (20).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Revealing metallic ink in Herculaneum papyri

Brun

Cotte

Wright

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Writing on paper is essential to civilization, as Pliny the Elder remarks in his Natural History, when he describes the various types of papyri, the method of manufacturing them, and all that concerns writing materials in the mid-first century AD. For this reason, a rigorous scientific study of writing is of fundamental importance for the historical understanding of ancient societies. We show that metallic ink was used several centuries earlier than previously thought. In particular, we found strong evidence that lead was intentionally used in the ink of Herculaneum papyri and discuss the possible existence of ruled lines traced on the papyrus texture. In addition, the metallic concentrations found in these fragments deliver important information in view of optimizing future computed tomography (CT) experiments on still-unrolled Herculaneum scrolls to improve the readability of texts in the only surviving ancient Greco-Roman library.T he development of alphabetic writing is one of the crucial steps in the history of Western civilization (1). Starting from the earliest examples, the writing that Greeks imported from Phoenicia is characterized by a quite regular layout, with letters evenly written between imaginary parallel lines (2). Capital letters, initially found in Greek manuscripts, then in Latin documents, and later in all of the languages based on Roman scripts (such as most Western and Central European languages, as well as many languages from other parts of the world), are based on this bilinear characteristic (3). If ruling lines is a well-established practice for writing on parchment supports in the Middle Ages (4), it is generally recognized that they were not necessary in papyri, the fibrous structure of which has been deemed sufficient for enabling the good alignment of written lines, even if their horizontal spacing was sometimes marked by a series of vertical dots. Eric G. Turner (3) argued that some material, no longer visible, was perhaps used for ruled lines on papyri; however, this claim cannot be supported by material evidence in the present state of paleographical knowledge (3, 5).The same historical considerations apply to the chemical composition of the inks used in antiquity. Pliny the Elder carefully describes the carbon-based ink used in his time, which was obtained from smoke from wood burnt in furnaces, without any deliberate addition of metal (1). In the case of the most ancient manuscripts, and particularly the literary papyri both in Greek and Latin, it has been assumed that the ink used for writing was carbon-based, at least until the fourth to fifth centuries AD (4, 6, 7). The occasional use of metallic ink before this period has been known: it is reported to be used for writing secret messages in the second century BC (8), and Pliny remarks that papyrus soaked in tannin turns black after contact with a solution of iron salt (1). Moreover, Wagner et al. demonstrate the use of metal in inks in an ancient Egyptian papyrus (9), although none of those special inks has ever been menti...

show abstract

“…The setup enables spatial sensitive research in the fields of corrosion science, archeology and depth resolved analysis of ion-exchanged glasses. [7][8][9][10] In this work, an in-depth characterization of the polycapillary optics and beam line conditions relevant to confocal experiments at BM26A is presented. Two recently performed experiments highlight many of the capabilities of our confocal setup, such as 3D XRF imaging and localized µ-EXAFS, on Fe-rich inclusions in a Deep Earth diamond and on the Iron Gall ink on a rare historical document, a letter from the court of King Philip II of Spain to the archbishop of Mexico.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Polycapillary Optics Based Confocal Micro X-ray Fluorescence and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Setup at The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility Collaborative Research Group Dutch–Belgian Beamline, BM26A

et al. 2018

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A novel plug-and-play setup based on polycapillary X-ray optics enables three-dimensional (3D) confocal X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy down to 8 × 8 × 11 μm (17 keV) at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility Collaborative Research Group Dutch-Belgian Beamline, BM26A. A complete description and analytical characterization is presented, together with two recently performed experimental cases. In Deep Earth diamond São Luiz-Frankfurt am Main 16, an olivine-rich inclusion was mapped with full 3D XRF elemental imaging. The preliminary tests on Iron Gall ink contained in an historical document, a letter from the court of King Philip II of Spain, reveal both the delicate nature of Iron Gall ink and the lack of Fe-Ni chemical bonding.

show abstract

Tracking ink composition on Herculaneum papyrus scrolls: quantification and speciation of lead by X-ray based techniques and Monte Carlo simulations

Cited by 36 publications

References 33 publications

Which elements are useful for understanding the composition of ancient papyrus inks?

Which elements are useful for understanding the composition of ancient papyrus inks?

Revealing metallic ink in Herculaneum papyri

Polycapillary Optics Based Confocal Micro X-ray Fluorescence and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Setup at The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility Collaborative Research Group Dutch–Belgian Beamline, BM26A

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About