Abstract
This chapter provides an overview of some of the materials used to write and decorate different types of manuscripts, i.e. inks, pigments and dyes, and of the different scientific methods and techniques available for their analysis and characterisation. The target audience is not only made of scientists but also curators, conservators, students and practitioners who want to know more about the technical examination of manuscripts and wish to appreciate the context of the scientific analysis of this type of objects. The possible types of approach to the scientific investigation of manuscripts are discussed, and the most frequently used analytical techniques are grouped according to their level of invasiveness and destructiveness. The chapter also contains a quick guide to some of the main questions that may arise about manuscripts, and explains how scientists can help to address them. Finally, a general protocol for the scientific analysis of manuscripts is illustrated.
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Notes
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ancient-egypt-shipping-mining-farming-economy-pyramids-180956619/. Accessed 7 December 2020.
Please note that the earliest example of a papyrus roll is said to be the blank roll from the tomb of Hemaka at Saqqara, dating from the beginning of the third millennium BC, as reported on page 227 in Leach and Tait (2000).
https://colour-index.com/definitions-of-a-dye-and-a-pigment. Accessed 7 December 2020.
https://www.winsornewton.com/row/articles/colours/spotlight-on-colourants-dyes-pigments/. Accessed 7 December 2020.
http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Carbon_black. Accessed 7 December 2020.
http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Bone_black. Accessed 7 December 2020.
http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Ivory_black. Accessed 7 December 2020.
http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Iron_gall_ink. Accessed 7 December 2020.
http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Berberis_dye. Accessed 7 December 2020.
Hark RR, personal communication, 2020.
http://licensedigitome.weebly.com/. Accessed 7 December 2020.
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Acknowledgements
My thanks go to Richard Hark for his advice and comments on the draft of this chapter and to Jane Rutherston, Head of Book Conservation at the Victoria and Albert Museum, for the gift of her time and for our discussions about manuscripts and codices. Some of the examples and images used here were part of the research undertaken within the V&A Research Institute (VARI) Leman Album Project, one of a 5-year programme of projects and partnerships generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Past financial support by the Access to Research Infrastructures activity in the H2020 Programme of the EU (IPERION-CH grant agreement n. 654028) is also gratefully acknowledged.
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Burgio, L. Pigments, dyes and inks: their analysis on manuscripts, scrolls and papyri. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 13, 194 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01403-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-021-01403-3