Scientists led by the ESRF and the University of Copenhagen have uncovered the long-standing mystery behind the composition of red and black inks used in ancient Egyptian papyri from around 100-200 AD. The find reveals that these ancient populations used similar writing techniques as seen in 15th century Europe. Impressive!

To come to this realization, the scientists used the powerful X-rays of the ESRF to study the ink seen on as many as 12 ancient Egyptian papyrus fragments from the only large-scale institutional library known to have survived from ancient Egypt: the Tebtunis temple library.

“By applying state-of-the-art 21st-century technology to reveal the hidden secrets of ancient ink technology, we are contributing to the unveiling the origin of writing practices,” said in a statement Marine Cotte, a scientist at the ESRF and co-corresponding author of the paper.