Egyptian metallic inks on textiles from the 15th century BCE unravelled by non-invasive techniques and chemometric analysis

Festa, G.; Christiansen, Thomas; Turina, Valentina; Borla, Matilde; Kelleher, Joe; Arcidiacono, Laura; Cartechini, Laura; Ponterio, Rosina Celeste; Scatigno, Claudia; Senesi, R.

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-43655-z

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this study a combination of X-ray, fluorescence, and Raman spectroscopies, together with PGAA, was applied in order to identify the nature of the black ink. Three different components of the inks were identified: the principal component was iron oxide, a secondary component was manganese oxide, and the base carrier of the colour was probably ochre [80].…”

Section: A Human Skeleton From the Roman Period Probed By Neutron Spementioning

confidence: 99%

Neutrons for Cultural Heritage—Techniques, Sensors, and Detection

Festa

Romanelli

Senesi

et al. 2020

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Advances in research in Cultural Heritage see increasing application of a multidisciplinary approach and the combined use of physical and chemical characterization of artefacts that can be used to define their structure and their state of conservation, also providing valuable information in selecting the most suitable microclimatic conditions for the exhibition environment. This approach provides a platform for a synergic collaboration amongst researchers, restorers, conservators, and archaeologists. Existing state-of-the-art technologies for neutron-based methods are currently being applied to the study of objects of historical and cultural interest in several neutron-beam facilities around the world. Such techniques are non-invasive and non-destructive and are, therefore, ideal to provide structural information about artefacts, such as their composition, presence of alterations due to the environmental conditions, inclusions, structure of the bulk, manufacturing techniques, and elemental composition, which provide an overall fingerprint of the object’s characteristics, thanks to the nature of the interaction of neutrons with matter. Here, we present an overview of the main neutron methods for the characterization of materials of interest in Cultural Heritage and we provide a brief introduction to the sensors and detectors that are used in this framework. We conclude with some case studies underlining the impact of these applications in different archaeological and historical contexts.

show abstract

Section: A Human Skeleton From the Roman Period Probed By Neutron Spementioning

confidence: 99%

Neutrons for Cultural Heritage—Techniques, Sensors, and Detection

Festa

Romanelli

Senesi

et al. 2020

Sensors

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…were developed through continuous experimentation and used alongside charcoal/soot inks (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20).…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into the composition of ancient Egyptian red and black inks on papyri achieved by synchrotron-based microanalyses

Christiansen

Cotte

Nolf

et al. 2020

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

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A hitherto unknown composition is highlighted in the red and black inks preserved on ancient Egyptian papyri from the Roman period (circa 100 to 200 CE). Synchrotron-based macro–X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping brings to light the presence of iron (Fe) and lead (Pb) compounds in the majority of the red inks inscribed on 12 papyrus fragments from the Tebtunis temple library. The iron-based compounds in the inks can be assigned to ocher, notably due to the colocalization of Fe with aluminum, and the detection of hematite (Fe2O3) by micro–X-ray diffraction. Using the same techniques together with micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Pb is shown to be associated with fatty acid phosphate, sulfate, chloride, and carboxylate ions. Moreover, micro-XRF maps reveal a peculiar distribution and colocalization of Pb, phosphorus (P), and sulfur (S), which are present at the micrometric scale resembling diffused “coffee rings” surrounding the ocher particles imbedded in the red letters, and at the submicrometric scale concentrated in the papyrus cell walls. A similar Pb, P, and S composition was found in three black inks, suggesting that the same lead components were employed in the manufacture of carbon-based inks. Bearing in mind that pigments such as red lead (Pb3O4) and lead white (hydrocerussite [Pb3(CO3)2(OH)2] and/or cerussite [PbCO3]) were not detected, the results presented here suggest that the lead compound in the ink was used as a drier rather than as a pigment. Accordingly, the study calls for a reassessment of the composition of lead-based components in ancient Mediterranean pigments.

show abstract

“…Classification of different types of pigments extracting the characteristic variables with chemometrics and non-destructive spectroscopic techniques are the new trend scenario [ 1 , 2 ]. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) stand out [ 3 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pre-treatments and data fusion are quite important: dataset are submitted to peak alignment [ 2 ], normalization processes or a band area selection and processed with regression analysis [ 20 ], observing the separation through PCA, linear discriminant analysis or cluster analysis [ 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemometric Tools to Point Out Benchmarks and Chromophores in Pigments through Spectroscopic Data Analyses

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spectral preprocessing data and chemometric tools are analytical methods widely applied in several scientific contexts i.e., in archaeometric applications. A systematic classification of natural powdered pigments of organic and inorganic nature through Principal Component Analysis with a multi-instruments spectroscopic study is presented here. The methodology allows the access to elementary and molecular unique benchmarks to guide and speed up the identification of an unknown pigment and its recipe. This study is conducted on a set of 48 powdered pigments and tested on a real-case sample from the wall painting in S. Maria Delle Palate di Tusa (Messina, Italy). Four spectroscopic techniques (X-ray Fluorescence, Raman, Attenuated Total Reflectance and Total Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopies) and six different spectrometers are tested to evaluate the impact of different setups. The novelty of the work is to use a systematic approach on this initial dataset using the entire spectroscopic energy range without any windows selection to solve problems linked with the manipulation of large analytes/materials to find an indistinct property of one or more spectral bands opening new frontiers in the dataset spectroscopic analyses.

show abstract

Egyptian metallic inks on textiles from the 15th century BCE unravelled by non-invasive techniques and chemometric analysis

Cited by 17 publications

References 23 publications

Neutrons for Cultural Heritage—Techniques, Sensors, and Detection

Neutrons for Cultural Heritage—Techniques, Sensors, and Detection

Insights into the composition of ancient Egyptian red and black inks on papyri achieved by synchrotron-based microanalyses

Chemometric Tools to Point Out Benchmarks and Chromophores in Pigments through Spectroscopic Data Analyses

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About