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Egypt Exploration Society
Tanning Tests for Two Documents Written on Animal SkinAuthor(s): Bridget LeachSource: The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 81 (1995), pp. 241-243Published by: Egypt Exploration SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3821826
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BRIEF
COMMUNICATIONS
RIEF
COMMUNICATIONS
the
published
catalogue,
Drovettidonatedboth
papyri
o this
library
n
1827.33As
this
information
cannot be sustained
by
other
evidence,
I
suspect
it
is
based on a mistake.
I conclude that of the three so-called Denon
papyri,
only
the
copy
of the
Book
of
Breathings
Made
by
Isis on Denon's
pl.
136 was in the Denon collection on a
permanent
basis. The two
funerarypapyri
of Osorkon
(pls.
137-8)
were
presumablyonly
in his
possession
for
a
short
period
in order for them to be included in the Voyage.Their designationas Denon papyriis based
exclusively
on their inclusion
in
the
Voyage.
Between 1802 and
1809,
both
papyri
were
bought
by
Divov
father
or son
in Paris and turned
up
in 1827 in
St.
Petersburg
n
the collection of the
National
Library
of Russia.At the auction
of Denon's
antiquities
n
1827,
the
Book
of Breathings
Made
by
Isis was
bought by
Baron
van
Westreenen,
the founder of
the
present
Meermanno-
Westreenianum
Museum
in
The
Hague.
The
fourth Denon
papyrus,
he
Ptolemaic
Book of the
Dead described
above,
was sold at the same
auction,
but its
present
location s unknown.
MARCCOENEN*
Tanning
tests
for two documents
written
on animal skin
Description
f
testing
two animal
kin
manuscripts
BM
EA
10122,
10281/2)
or
vegetable
annins
o determine
the
methodof skin
preparation.
EVIDENCEor the
production
of leather and
parchment
in
ancient
Egypt
comes
from the
examination
of the
surviving
material,
or from
representations
on tomb walls.
From the
archaeo-
logical
evidence
it
appears
that
craft
practices
were well established
in
Egypt by
the New
Kingdom.'
As
far as
ancient
Mesopotamia
is
concerned,
cuneiform
tablets
survive,
dated
1600-1000
BC,
with
recipes
and
methods used
in
skin
preparation.2
Some
references
from
classicaltimes are reported,3and, from aroundthe seventhcenturyADonwards, he Arabswere
responsible
for
disseminating
much
information
about the
craft
practices
of the
Middle
East.
There
is, however,
very
little certain
evidence
for methods
of skin
preparation
n ancient
Egypt,
and
only
a
limited
amount
of
information
an be deduced
by examining
skins with the
naked
eye.
This
paper
concerns
an
investigation,
drawing
on two
particular xamples,
nto one
aspect
of skin
preparation
n
Egypt,
namely
when the material
was
to be used
for
writing.
In
particular,
were
the skins
prepared
as
a
parchment,
or tanned
as
in
leather
production?
There are
many
differences
between
the
manufacturingprocesses
of leather and
parchment,
but
one essential
difference
is that
parchment
s dried under
tension,
thereby restructuring
he
dermal
network
of the
skin
and
stretching
the
fibres,
setting
them
permanently
n this
position
when
dry.
Another
difference
is that leather
is
tanned;
this
process
of
treating
skins
with
various
vegetable
products
causes
an
irreversiblechemical
change
in the dermal
network,
changing
the
skin into leather.However, n antiquity he differenceswere not necessarilyso clearlydefined,
and
it
seems
that
skins could
be
prepared
as a
parchment
and then some sort of
tannage
applied
afterwards.4
Whether this would
have been
the case
in
the
preparation
of
writing
materials
is
uncertain.
Sometimes
visual
means alone
are
enough
to
distinguish
between
parchment
and
33Catalogue
des
manuscrits
et
xylographes
orientaux
de
la
Bibliotheque
Imperiale Publique
de St.
Petersbourg
(St. Petersburg,
1852=
Leipzig,
1978),
x. This version
is also
given
in
Evgenova,
Trudy
Gosudarstvennoi
ublichnoi
Biblioteki,
7-8,
and
in
Niwiniski,
Theban
FuneraryPapyri,
47-8.
I
thank Prof.
E.
Waegemans
for
translating
the
relevant
passage
from the
article of
Evgenova.
*
Aspirant
van het
Belgisch
Nationaal Fonds
voor
Wetenschappelijk
Ondersoek.
1
A.
Lucas,
Ancient
Egyptian
Materials
and
Industries4,
revised
by
J.
R.
Harris
(London,
1989),
33-7;
R.
J.
Forbes,
Studies
in Ancient
Technology2,
V
(Leiden,
1966),
22-34.
2
R.
Reed,
Ancient
Skins,
Parchmentsand Leathers
(London,
1972),
87-9.
3
Forbes, tudies,
48-57.
4
Reed,
Ancient
Skins,
122-3.
the
published
catalogue,
Drovettidonatedboth
papyri
o this
library
n
1827.33As
this
information
cannot be sustained
by
other
evidence,
I
suspect
it
is
based on a mistake.
I conclude that of the three so-called Denon
papyri,
only
the
copy
of the
Book
of
Breathings
Made
by
Isis on Denon's
pl.
136 was in the Denon collection on a
permanent
basis. The two
funerarypapyri
of Osorkon
(pls.
137-8)
were
presumablyonly
in his
possession
for
a
short
period
in order for them to be included in the Voyage.Their designationas Denon papyriis based
exclusively
on their inclusion
in
the
Voyage.
Between 1802 and
1809,
both
papyri
were
bought
by
Divov
father
or son
in Paris and turned
up
in 1827 in
St.
Petersburg
n
the collection of the
National
Library
of Russia.At the auction
of Denon's
antiquities
n
1827,
the
Book
of Breathings
Made
by
Isis was
bought by
Baron
van
Westreenen,
the founder of
the
present
Meermanno-
Westreenianum
Museum
in
The
Hague.
The
fourth Denon
papyrus,
he
Ptolemaic
Book of the
Dead described
above,
was sold at the same
auction,
but its
present
location s unknown.
MARCCOENEN*
Tanning
tests
for two documents
written
on animal skin
Description
f
testing
two animal
kin
manuscripts
BM
EA
10122,
10281/2)
or
vegetable
annins
o determine
the
methodof skin
preparation.
EVIDENCEor the
production
of leather and
parchment
in
ancient
Egypt
comes
from the
examination
of the
surviving
material,
or from
representations
on tomb walls.
From the
archaeo-
logical
evidence
it
appears
that
craft
practices
were well established
in
Egypt by
the New
Kingdom.'
As
far as
ancient
Mesopotamia
is
concerned,
cuneiform
tablets
survive,
dated
1600-1000
BC,
with
recipes
and
methods used
in
skin
preparation.2
Some
references
from
classicaltimes are reported,3and, from aroundthe seventhcenturyADonwards, he Arabswere
responsible
for
disseminating
much
information
about the
craft
practices
of the
Middle
East.
There
is, however,
very
little certain
evidence
for methods
of skin
preparation
n ancient
Egypt,
and
only
a
limited
amount
of
information
an be deduced
by examining
skins with the
naked
eye.
This
paper
concerns
an
investigation,
drawing
on two
particular xamples,
nto one
aspect
of skin
preparation
n
Egypt,
namely
when the material
was
to be used
for
writing.
In
particular,
were
the skins
prepared
as
a
parchment,
or tanned
as
in
leather
production?
There are
many
differences
between
the
manufacturingprocesses
of leather and
parchment,
but
one essential
difference
is that
parchment
s dried under
tension,
thereby restructuring
he
dermal
network
of the
skin
and
stretching
the
fibres,
setting
them
permanently
n this
position
when
dry.
Another
difference
is that leather
is
tanned;
this
process
of
treating
skins
with
various
vegetable
products
causes
an
irreversiblechemical
change
in the dermal
network,
changing
the
skin into leather.However, n antiquity he differenceswere not necessarilyso clearlydefined,
and
it
seems
that
skins could
be
prepared
as a
parchment
and then some sort of
tannage
applied
afterwards.4
Whether this would
have been
the case
in
the
preparation
of
writing
materials
is
uncertain.
Sometimes
visual
means alone
are
enough
to
distinguish
between
parchment
and
33Catalogue
des
manuscrits
et
xylographes
orientaux
de
la
Bibliotheque
Imperiale Publique
de St.
Petersbourg
(St. Petersburg,
1852=
Leipzig,
1978),
x. This version
is also
given
in
Evgenova,
Trudy
Gosudarstvennoi
ublichnoi
Biblioteki,
7-8,
and
in
Niwiniski,
Theban
FuneraryPapyri,
47-8.
I
thank Prof.
E.
Waegemans
for
translating
the
relevant
passage
from the
article of
Evgenova.
*
Aspirant
van het
Belgisch
Nationaal Fonds
voor
Wetenschappelijk
Ondersoek.
1
A.
Lucas,
Ancient
Egyptian
Materials
and
Industries4,
revised
by
J.
R.
Harris
(London,
1989),
33-7;
R.
J.
Forbes,
Studies
in Ancient
Technology2,
V
(Leiden,
1966),
22-34.
2
R.
Reed,
Ancient
Skins,
Parchmentsand Leathers
(London,
1972),
87-9.
3
Forbes, tudies,
48-57.
4
Reed,
Ancient
Skins,
122-3.
1995995
24141
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3/4
BRIEF
COMMUNICATIONS
leather,
but an additional
difficulty
with ancient material
s that
it can have deteriorated
badly
or
have had
repairs
or
dressings applied
to it in
recent
times.
If
this is the
case,
chemical tests
for
the
presence
of
tannins can be used to some
effect,
and these are described here. The
presence
of tannin alone cannot
lead to a
conclusion that the material is a
leather,
but it can
give
an
indicationof the more
likely
identification.
Likewise,
the
absence
of
tannins can
only
point
to the
possibility hat the skin waspreparedas parchment,but this cannot be stateddefinitely.
The collections
in
the
Department
of
EgyptianAntiquities
in
the
British Museum contain
several leather and
parchmentmanuscripts.They
include an illustratedNew
Kingdom
Book of
the
Dead
(EA
10473),
a
hieratic Book of the Dead
(EA
10281),
a
mathematical
ext
(EA
10250),
a
literary
ext
(the
Teaching
of
a
Man
for
his
Son,
EA
10258),
and four
Coptic magical
scrolls
(EA
10122,
10376, 10391,
10414).
These
manuscripts
are
very
fragile,
and
by
their nature do
not
always
ie flat as is
the
case with
papyri;
consequently, they
can be
difficult to mount
and store
safely.
Two of
them were
recently
sent to the
Department
of Conservation or
treatment,
namely
EA 10122
and EA
10281/2.
EA 10122
is one of four
Coptic magical
scrolls in
the collection
coming
from the same
ancient
archive,
dated
tentatively
o the sixth or
seventh
century
AD.5
It
has all the
appearance
of
a
strip
of
brown eather.There are
some small
missing
areas,
and
parts
are
very
brittle;
t is also
stained
and fractured.The hair and the flesh sides have been writtenon in blackink, and it measures
approximately
5
cm
in
length,
and
8
cm at
its widest
part.
EA
10281 is
a hieratic Book of
the
Dead,
and
comprises
a
series of
fragments
which
are
mounted
in
thirteen
glass
frames.
They
represent
a
master
copy
of
a Book of the
Dead,
which
apparently
had,
in
antiquity,
been
adapted
or
private
use
by
one
Nebimes;
it
can be
dated
by
the
hieratic hand to the
early
Eighteenth Dynasty.6
All the
frames
contain one
or more
fragments.
The second frame
contains
three,
the smallest
being
2.8
x
4 cm
and the
largest
12.5
x
4.4 cm.
Both the
larger
fragments
have,
at some time in
the more
recent
past,
been
very
heavily
'varnished',
giving
them an
almost black
lacquer-like
sheen
on
the
surface.
This had
totally
obscured the black
ink,
and
only
the
red
ink
was
visible.
Infra-red
photography
has,
however,
enabled
the text
to
be read.
The
fragments
had been
laid down
onto card and are
now
very
brittle,
with
many
hairline cracks. The
smallest
fragment
of EA
10281/2,
however,
had
escaped
the
'varnishing' nd is still a creamybrowncolour.
Once
the mountswere
opened
it
was
possible
to
carry
out
tests
on
the
skins
before conservation
work
started.
Attempts
to
identify
the
animal
type by
comparing
grain patterns
under the
microscope
were
unsuccessful,
as the
skins
in
both
manuscripts
were too
degraded.
The
test
for
tannins
that was used is
very
simple.7
Tannins
give
strong
colourswhen
treated
with
certain
ron
salts;
indeed this
is
the
way
iron-gall
nk
is
produced.8
Therefore,
if
an iron
salt
is reactedwith
a
few
fibres
of
a
vegetable
tanned
leather,
t
will darken
he fibres to
an intense
blackwhich
may
have a
blue,
grey,
or
greenish
tint. The
change
is
very
marked
and
can be
seen
clearly
either
by
the naked
eye,
or
under
the
microscope
when
single
fibres can
be tested. When
the leather
sample
is
already
a
very
dark
brown,
almost
black, colour,
the colour
change
can
be difficult
to see. This
is somewhateased
by
studying
single
fibres,
as
they
appear
ess
coloured han the bulk
material.
The iron
salt used
in this
case was ferrous
sulphate
(2
FeSO4
w/v
in
distilled
water).9
Small
sampleswere taken fromboth documents underthe microscope.From the Coptic manuscript
fibres were
teased
away
with tweezers from the inner
layer
of the
material,
hereby
avoiding
he
surface
layers
which
may
have
received
later tannin
coatings
or
dressings,
and also
avoiding
he
5
W. E.
Crum,
'Magical
Texts
in
Coptic',
JEA
20
(1934),
51-3,
195-200,
pls. ix.2,
xxv.
6
A. W.
Shorter,
A
Leather
Manuscript
of the
Book of
the Dead
in
the
British
Muesum',
JEA
20
(1934),
33-40,
pls.
iv-vii;
S.
Quirke,
Owners
of FuneraryPapyri
in
the
BritishMuseum
(British
Museum
Occasional
Paper
92; London,
1993),
16-17,
46 no. 123.
7
Although
simple
by
scientific
standards,
his
test
should of course
be carriedout
only
in
a
laboratory
by personnel
trained o handle
archaeological
materialand
familiarwith
scientific
testing
methods.
8
J.
Watrous,
The
Craftof
Old
Master
Drawings (Madison,1957),
69-72.
9
R.
Larson,
'Micro-chemical
Determinationof
Vegetable
Tannin',
LeatherConservation
News
7
(1990),
no. 1
(pages unnumbered);
Reed,AncientSkins,
273-9;
V.
Daniels,
Evaluation
of
a Test
for
Tannin in
Leather
(British
Museum
Conservation
Research
Report
No. CA
1993/1;London,
February
1993).
YEA
81
42
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4/4
BRIEF
COMMUNICATIONS
inked
areas. With the hieratic
document,
it
was
the small
unvarnishedarea which was
sampled,
since here
the ink
was
visible,
and
could therefore be avoided. In this
case,
a few fibres were
scrapedaway
with
a
scalpel,
as the materialwas
very
brittle. Each
sample
was then
placed
on a
glass
slide and divided
into two small bunches. One of the
bunches
on
each slide served as a
control,
and
the
other
had a
drop
of
the
ferrous
sulphate
solution
pipetted
onto
it. Both sets of
fibres were then examinedunderthe microscope.Colourchangecan takeup to severalhours to
develop
but
usually
occurs after about fifteen minutes. The
Coptic manuscript
showed a
very
definite
darkening
of
fibres,
but the
hieratic
ragment
did not react. This
indicated hat the
Coptic
document
(EA 10122)
was written on a
vegetable
tanned material and is
therefore
possibly
a
leather,
and the hieratic
fragments
(EA 10281)
a non-tanned
material,
most
likely
a
parchment
or vellum.10
Furthermore,
pH
measurements
gave
the
following
results:-
Coptic manuscript
pH
4
Book of the
Dead
fragments pH
5-6
The more acidic nature of the
Coptic
scroll is consistent with a
vegetable
tanned leather which
contains acidic
residues from the
tanning process.
BRIDGET
EACH
10The terms
parchment
and vellum have become almost
interchangeable.
Vellum used to mean
parch-
ment made from calf skin, which produces a particularly thin and strong material. Today, the word vellum
does not
necessarily
mean a skin
prepared
from calf
skin,
but can
mean
any
fine
and
strong parchment
regardless
of
the animal
species
used
(Reed,
Ancient
Skins,
126).
1995
243