An example of a section of one of the charred/carbonized scrolls found at the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. Wikimedia Commons
Posted on 03/23/2016 3:02:05 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Analysis of Herculaneum papyrus scroll fragments reveals the use of metallic ink in Greco-Roman literary inscription centuries earlier than previously thought, according to a study*. Scholars of ancient scrolls hold that texts from antiquity, particularly Greek and Latin literary manuscripts produced until the fourth century AD, were largely written in carbon-based ink on papyri, the fibrous structure of which allowed scribes to jettison ruling lines. Vito Mocella and colleagues used nondestructive synchrotron X-ray-based methods to chemically analyze the barely visible black inscriptions on two nearly flat, multilayered papyrus fragments that were found at the Villa dei Papiri at Herculaneum in the mid-18th century and are housed at the Paris-based Institut de France. The introduction of metal in writing materials is generally dated to fourth-fifth century AD, but the fragments' high lead concentrations -- around 84 mg/cm2 and 16 mg/cm2 -- suggest purposeful use of lead-containing ink, thus ruling out contamination from aqueducts, inkpots, or containers, and pushing back by several centuries the advent of metallic ink for literary inscription in the Greco-Roman period. Spots of concentrated lead likely correspond to the beginnings and ends of the scribes' pen strokes on the scrolls. Letters on the fragments were bounded by naturally occurring horizontal lines of papyrus fibres that appear to have served as alignment guides for straight-line writing. The lines are likely signatures of cristobalite, a quartz-like mineral found in the papyrus plant. According to the authors, the findings might shape future analysis of unopened Herculaneum scrolls.
(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...
An example of a section of one of the charred/carbonized scrolls found at the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. Wikimedia Commons
They even lead back to when they used Lead (PB) to add patina to their wine.
Of course you are my bright little star,
I’ve miles And miles Of files
Pretty files of your forefather’s fruit
and now to suit our great computer,
You’re magnetic ink.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AukFsBv2oDY
They have been working on these charred fragments for years. They MUST get them translated before I die. I want to know what is in those pitiful remains of a great ancient library.
But ,.. but, there is no eraser !
What if you make a spelling error ?
Do they call the spelling errors " COMMON CORE " ?
or , eubonics ?
Is the word in the upper right “METALO” - a spelling variant of METALLO, “metal”? If so, it is appropriate for this article.
The attempts at unrolling were a disaster, so they continued for decades during the 19th century, and perhaps into the 20th. The idea that there's metal in the ink *may have* arisen from the use of xrays to try to read the scrolls without trying to unroll them. Anyway, AFAIK, all the known texts are from epicurian philosophy (oh boy), and are mostly otherwise unknown works. There's been some wishful thinking in recent years that, perhaps, since the house turned out to have a another storey, perhaps there's a second library, and in *that* one, perhaps there are some more desirable texts, like, oh, lost histories and whatnot. That would be nice, but there's probably no second library in the house.
veerry interesting.....
the carpenters pencil preceded the round ticonderoga #3
Regarding lead...... While in school in Raleigh, I saw a street called lead mine road. That seemed interesting so Itook ny topo map to find it. I couldn’t. I finally stopped at a store and asked an old man and he gave me directions. It was but a substantial hole in the ground.
It was a graphite mine
Was one of the arguments against the Turin Shroud that the “ink” on the Shroud had metal in it and such did not exist two millenia back?
I believe that’s the equivalent of MEGALO in Latin letters, meaning big.
Probably correct, but I like my misreading better.
you’ve never heard of Metallica?
Not that I know of, but that’s as far into the Shroud firefights I’m willing to go.
Thanks SteveH.
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