The constituents of the ink from a Qumran inkwell: New prospects for provenancing the ink on the Dead Sea Scrolls

Kaare Lund Rasmussen*, Anna Lluveras Tenorio, Ilaria Bonaduce, Maria Perla Colombini, Leila Birolo, Eugenio Galano, Angela Amoresano, Greg Doudna, Andrew D. Bond, Vincenzo Palleschi, Giulia Lorenzetti, Stefano Legnaioli, Johannes van der Plicht, Jan Gunneweg

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

A unique sample of ink from an inkwell in the Schøyen Collection allegedly found at Qumran has been subjected to analyses by several analytical techniques: GC-MS, proteomic analysis, PXRD, Raman, (ATR) FT-IR, LIBS, ICP-MS and MS. The results reveal to an unexpected level of detail how the ink was manufactured, which gives insight into the industrial processes and craftsmanship that were practiced at the Qumran settlement during the Second Temple period (100 BCE-CE 70). The identified minerals and other organic and inorganic materials are sufficiently multiple and diverse that it is probable that this specific ink can be recognized if analyses of inks are performed on manuscripts from Qumran and other locations in Israel and the Middle East. The present work exposes a distinct and unique possibility to shed light on early Jewish manuscript controversies, including their provenance.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2956-2968
Number of pages13
JournalJournal of Archaeological Science
Volume39
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2012

Keywords

  • FT-IR
  • GC-MS
  • ICP-MS
  • Ink
  • LIBS
  • PXRD
  • Proteomic analyses
  • Qumran
  • Radiocarbon dating
  • Raman

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