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Because the "ink" of the Vinland Map behaves more like a paint, sitting
on top of the parchment, chemicals in the parchment should be of very
limited significance when analysing the ink.
David Bradbury
Whitehaven, England
Given the corrosive nature of some iron gall inks--whose recipes varied
widely--, they are hardly inert substances sitting on top of the writing
surface, although this may not be of any use in terms of the determining
the authenticity of the map itself (recognizing that this abstract is
not dealing specifically with parchment):
Analytica Chimica Acta
Volume 555, Issue 1, 5 January 2006, Pages 167-174
Historical iron gall ink containing documents — Properties affecting
their condition
Jana Kolara, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The
Corresponding Author, Andrej Štolfaa, Matija Strličb, Matevž Pompeb,
Boris Pihlarb, Miloš Budnarc, Jure Simčičc and Birgit Reisslandd
aNational and University Library, Preservation Department, Turjaška
1, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
bFaculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Aškerčeva 5, SI-1000,
Ljubljana, Slovenia
cJožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, SI-1001 Ljubljana, Slovenia
dInstituut Collectie Nederland, Gabriel Metsustraat 8, NL-1070 KA,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Received 16 March 2005;
revised 6 July 2005;
accepted 30 August 2005.
Available online 3 October 2005.
Abstract
Iron gall ink, also referred to as iron gallotannate ink, is one of
the most important inks in the history of western civilisation, and
was in widespread use from the middle ages until the 20th century.
Unfortunately, iron ions and acids present in these inks induce
enhanced degradation of paper, thus severely damaging numerous
historical artefacts. Yet, when examining documents, it is
frequently observed that not all materials containing iron gall ink
are suffering from ink corrosion. While some are completely
destroyed, others may be in excellent condition even centuries after
their creation. In order to establish the main properties of
materials, common to severely degraded documents, the effects of the
type and quantity of metal ions in the ink, as determined by in-air
PIXE method, pH of the ink on paper, grammage of paper, its
absorptivity and the width of ink lines were evaluated against the
extent of corrosion. Using multiple linear regression analysis, a
correlation has been obtained between the width of the applied ink
lines, pH, grammage of paper and the extent of ink corrosion. Based
on these factors, which can be acquired non-destructively from most
historical documents, it is therefore possible to predict the
stability of historical iron gall ink containing paper.
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