Myriam Krutzsch’s research while affiliated with Scholar Rock (United States) and other places

Among the broad spectrum of ancient Egyptian religious literature, the Book of the Dead is the most representative of the mortuary religion and of the magical and ritual practices belonging to it. Moreover, its rich corpus of texts and images provides unique information on the scribal practices, mortuary traditions, myths, and priestly rituals in ancient Egypt from the second millennium BCE to the Roman Period. “Book of the Dead” is the conventional name given by Egyptologists to a collection of magical compositions called in ancient Egyptian “Book for Coming Forth By Day.” This title refers to the main wish of the deceased, who wished to be able to leave his tomb and move freely between this world and the next. Each Book of the Dead manuscript is unique, although we know of the existence of workshops where the papyri were bought; therefore, a few common stylistic features can be recognized according to different regional traditions of writing and manufacture. The spells also present many and various parallels with other magical and ritual texts attested in temples and on magical objects and amulets, showing that the mortuary literature had in fact a strong link with the daily religious life and beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. This handbook is the first guide to all the aspects and topics of research in relation both to the Book of the Dead itself and to broader research on ancient Egyptian religion and magic.

The presentation discusses the results of the material study of a group of illuminated pattern cartoons fragments thematically collected under the inventory number Berlin P 13275. The fragments from Otto Rubensohn’s excavation in Eshmunên in 1906 are stylistically roughly dated to a large period from about the 3rd to the 7th century CE. They contain designs for Byzantine and Coptic textiles, with geometric, floral and figurative motives which have been described in several publications. To complement the previous work, we subjected the papyri to extensive material analysis. Using microscopy in transmitted light and imaging micro-X-ray fluorescence, we were able to characterize the papyrus substrates and prepare a corresponding conservation plan. Furthermore, we applied three-color reflectography, Raman and VIS-spectroscopy in addition to X-ray fluorescence for identification of the colouring agents. Our study tentatively indicates that the fragments could have come from a single context of a lesser period span. This study is a first one from the series of the planned investigations of the Late Antique pattern cartoons.

Our team in the Federal Institute of Materials Research and Testing (BAM) specialises in archaeometry of manuscripts while the conservation laboratory of the Berlin Papyrus Collection excels in the conservation practices of papyri. Recently we started combining our efforts in conducting a holistic study of historic papyri. The presentation shows a range of the latest results from the investigation conducted on the selected papyri. We propose a new approach to the papyrus classification based on the measurements of the fibres distribution in papyrus. We will also review the composition and the precipitation mechanism of the deposit on the papyrus glazings.

Near-infrared reflectography and imaging X-ray fluorescence analysis reveal that carbon inks of two different compositions were used in the papyrus manuscript Berlin P 11702. In contrast with the writing ink, one of the carbon drawing inks contained a significant addition of iron. This result emphasizes the need for routine instrumental ink analysis.

In the transition from carbon to iron-gall inks, the two documents from the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in Berlin with shelfmarks P 13500 and P 13501 discussed in this work present an important case. Their inks appear brownish, although they date back to the fourth and third century BCE, when carbon inks are believed to have been commonly if not exclusively used. Using imaging micro-X-ray fluorescence and infrared reflectography, we discovered that the inks in both documents contain a significant amount of copper in addition to carbon. Comparing the extant recipes for black writing inks and the experimental evidence, we suggest that these inks are a transition between the pure carbon and the iron-gall inks. Such inks may have been quite common before the production of iron-gall ink was clearly understood and established.

In 2002 new "Dead Sea Scrolls" fragments began to appear on the antiquities market, most of them through the Kando family. In this article we will present evidence that nine of these Dead Sea Scrolls-like fragments are modern forgeries.

Ancient papyri are a written heritage of culture that flourished more than 3000 years ago in Egypt. One of the most significant collections in the world is housed in the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in Berlin, from where the samples for our investigation come. The papyrologists, curators and conservators of such collections search intensely for the analytical detail that would allow ancient papyri to be distinguished from modern fabrications, in order to detect possible forgeries, assess papyrus deterioration state, and improve the design of storage conditions and conservation methods. This has become the aim of our investigation. The samples were studied by a number of methods, including spectroscopic (FTIR, fluorescent-FS, Raman) diffractional (XRD) and chromatographic (size exclusion chromatography-SEC), selected in order to determine degradation parameters: overall oxidation of lignocellulosic material, degree of polymerization and crystallinity of cellulose. The results were correlated with those obtained from carefully selected model samples including modern papyri and paper of different composition aged at elevated temperature in humid air. The methods were classified in the order SEC > FS > FTIR > XRD, based on their effectiveness in discriminating the state of papyri degradation. However, the most trustworthy evaluation of the age of papyri samples should rely on several methods.