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Characterizing the age of ancient Egyptian manuscripts through micro‐Raman spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Goler Sarah,
Yardley James T.,
Cacciola Angela,
Hagadorn Alexis,
Ratzan David,
Bagnall Roger
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of raman spectroscopy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.748
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1097-4555
pISSN - 0377-0486
DOI - 10.1002/jrs.4945
Subject(s) - raman spectroscopy , carbon fibers , amorphous solid , carbon black , spectral line , pigment , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , chemistry , crystallography , optics , organic chemistry , composite material , physics , natural rubber , astronomy , composite number
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.