We report the first in‐depth, systematic study of the Raman spectra of black pigments on ancient Egyptian papyri with well‐specified dates from the 4th century bce to the 10th century ce. The observed spectra are all characteristic of carbon black, but the shapes of the spectra change systematically with the manuscript date, a striking observation given the time span represented. We conclude that the pigments for these papyri were manufactured by using similar processes. We attribute these experimentally observed changes to chemical degradation, possibly the result of the oxidation of both amorphous carbon and crystalline aromatic carbon within these pigments. This investigation offers new insights into the ink materials used in ancient Egypt and provides a possible basis for a new nondestructive means for estimating the dates of ancient papyri. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The Ancient Ink Laboratory is an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental working group based at Columbia University and New York University dedicated to exploring the chemical nature of ancient inks. We report here the results of a systematic study of the Raman spectra of 23 Egyptian papyri from the fourth century bce to the tenth century ce and its implications for two controversial papyri: the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife and an associated fragment bearing a text from a Coptic Gospel of John. Close study of the Raman spectra reveals specific variations that correlate closely with the date of writing. This discovery enables us to determine the average Raman spectroscopic parameters as a function of manuscript date and so establishes, in principle, the basis for a non-destructive scientific model capable of predicting the date of ancient manuscripts written in carbon ink from Egypt for the period defined by this study. We have analyzed Gospel of Jesus’ Wife and the Gospel of John according to this methodology and present our findings here in the context of our wider study and our current research.

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