image: The ruins of the town Tebtunis, where the only temple library to survive from ancient Egypt was discovered view more
Credit: Image credit: Kim Ryholt
A study detects the composition of red and black inks on ancient Egyptian papyri as well as a role for lead-based compounds in the writing process. Ancient Egyptians used inks for writing since at least 3200 BCE, using black inks for the primary body of text and red inks to highlight heading and keyword text. Thomas Christiansen, Marine Cotte, and colleagues used synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence to analyze the composition of red and black inks from 12 papyrus fragments from the Tebtunis temple library. The fragments date to Egypt's Roman period, around 100-200 CE. Analysis revealed that the iron-based compounds in the inks are likely ocher, as iron was found colocalized with aluminum and the mineral hematite was also detected. In the red inks, lead, phosphorus, and sulfur appeared together in micrometric rings surrounding ocher particles and were concentrated in the papyrus cell walls. Lead compounds also appeared in the black inks, but because typical lead-based pigments were not detected, the authors infer that the lead compound was likely used as a drying agent rather than as a pigment. According to the authors, 15th-century European paintings also used lead as a drying agent, and the discovery prompts a reassessment of ancient lead-based pigments.
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Article #20-04534: “Insights into the composition of ancient Egyptian red and black inks on papyri achieved by synchrotron-based microanalyses,” by Thomas Christiansen, Marine Cotte, et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Thomas Christiansen, University of Copenhagen, DENMARK; e-mail: msc546@alumni.ku.dk; Marine Cotte, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, FRANCE; email: marine.cotte@esrf.fr
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences