title: Tracking ink composition on Herculaneum papyrus scrolls: quantification and speciation of lead by X-ray based techniques and Monte Carlo simulations.
abstract: The writing in carbonized Herculaneum scrolls, covered and preserved by the pyroclastic events of the Vesuvius in 79 AD, was recently revealed using X-ray phase-contrast tomography, without the need of unrolling the sensitive scrolls. Unfortunately, some of the text is difficult to read due to the interference of the papyrus fibers crossing the written text vertically and horizontally. Recently, lead was found as an elemental constituent in the writing, rendering the text more clearly readable when monitoring the lead X-ray fluorescence signal. Here, several hypotheses are postulated for the origin and state of lead in the papyrus writing. Multi-scale X-ray fluorescence micro-imaging, Monte Carlo quantification and X-ray absorption microspectroscopy experiments are used to provide additional information on the ink composition, in an attempt to determine the origin of the lead in the Herculaneum scrolls and validate the postulated hypotheses.
authors: Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors: Pieter
authors: P
authors: Tack
authors: The European Synchrotron, 71 av des martyrs 38000 Grenoble, France.|Laboratoire d'Archéologie Moléculaire et Structurale, CNRS-UPMC, UMR 8220, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.
authors: Marine
authors: M
authors: Cotte
authors: Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.|The European Synchrotron, 71 av des martyrs 38000 Grenoble, France.
authors: Stephen
authors: S
authors: Bauters
authors: Inserm &Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble Institut des Neurosciences, U836 &UMR-S836, 38043 Grenoble, France.
authors: Emmanuel
authors: E
authors: Brun
authors: The European Synchrotron, 71 av des martyrs 38000 Grenoble, France.
authors: Dipanjan
authors: D
authors: Banerjee
authors: The European Synchrotron, 71 av des martyrs 38000 Grenoble, France.
authors: Wim
authors: W
authors: Bras
authors: The European Synchrotron, 71 av des martyrs 38000 Grenoble, France.
authors: Claudio
authors: C
authors: Ferrero
authors: CNRS-IRHT-Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, 10 rue Molitor, 75016 Paris, France.
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Delattre
authors: CNR-IMM-Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi-Unità di Napoli, via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy.
authors: Vito
authors: V
authors: Mocella
authors: Analytical Chemistry, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors: Laszlo
authors: L
authors: Vincze
mesh_terms: D029786:Cyperus; D007281:Ink; D007558:Italy; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis*; D013052:Spectrometry, X-Ray Emission; D056928:X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy
chemical_list: D007854:Lead