Black Egyptian inks in Late Antiquity: new insights on their manufacture and use

Abstract

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.

Looking for the missing link in the evolution of black inks

“…Because of the locally ironrich substrate, we cannot exclude the possibility of small amounts of iron impurities in the ink. Ghigo et al recently raised the problem of iron identification in the inks of historical papyri (Ghigo et al 2020). A copper map contrasts with that of iron, displaying a perfectly legible text, proving that copper is a metallic component of the ink.…”

“…Finally, although the halo and UV images suggest the presence of tannins, further analysis is needed to unequivocally prove it. For this purpose, it seems promising to apply Atmospheric Solids Analysis Probe (ASAP®) mass spectrometry, as suggested by Ghigo and co-authors (Ghigo et al 2020).…”

Mössbauer study of iron gall inks on historical documents

“…It is, however, not utterly clear whether the jarosite in the Chancery MS is hydronium jarosite or potassium jarosite, since the latter might have formed with potassium present in the paper [47,48]. A distinction of jarosites, MFe 3 (SO 4 ) 2 (OH) 6 , with different M anions on the basis of the Mössbauer spectra is difficult, because the hyperfine parameters are very similar [56]. Surprisingly, the relative intensities of the quadrupole doublets obtained for the Chancery MS at room temperature for Fe(II)-oxalate and jarosite (42 and 17%, respectively, Table 2) are nearly the same as those obtained for the magnetically split spectra at 4.2 K (42 an 23%, Table 2).…”

“…The use of iron gall inks probably came from Egypt to Palestine in the third century A.D. and from there to Europe [1][2][3][4]. Such inks were already used in late Roman times [2][3][4][5][6] and became an important writing material in the Western world in the Middle Ages and during modern times until they became obsolete in the twentieth century [2,3,7]. Documents written with iron gall inks often suffer from severe degradation, depending on the quality of the writing supports and on the composition of the ink [3,8,9].…”

Traces of Ink

“…50 On this form of curse, see n. 22, above. 51 Other passages in which a gloss is introduced use the formula ho estin x (ὅ ἐστιν …, "which is …"), see, e.g. PGM III 425 and XIII 128.…”