Erasures are a significant yet often overlooked phenomenon in medieval manuscripts, arising from a variety of causes, both natural and human-made. These can range from inadvertent damage due to careless handling or devotional rituals, to deliberate acts of censorship and iconoclasm. Erasures may result from a single event or multiple interactions over time, each may leave its own unique trace.
The Hidden in Plain Sight team focuses on distinguishing the different types of deliberate erasures, such as smearing and scraping. Our goal is to understand the processes behind these erasures by closely studying the textures and material remnants they leave on the parchment as ink and pigments. We use advanced techniques like digital microscopy, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI), and multispectral imaging (MSI). We analyse these subtle traces to create a material taxonomy of erasures in premodern manuscripts.
Mock up
As part of the Erasures theme, our team created a mock-up using vellum, combining ink and pigment to investigate various erasure techniques. The page was divided into zones, with the total number of zones being twice the number of erasure types. A conservator then applied each erasure technique twice in non-adjacent zones, without sharing the mock-up list with the scientific team. The erasure methods included: Wet rubbing, Dry rubbing, Scraping with a blunt instrument, Scraping with a sharp instrument (right-handed),Scraping with a sharp instrument (left-handed), Blank parchment area (no erasures).
The scientists then employed a range of technologies to analyze the erasures and assess their material properties. This analysis contributes to the development of a material taxonomy and offers insights from various technical methods, including:
RTI, OCT, Digital Microscope, MSI
