State of the Art: THE Analysis Methods
Various methods are used today to reconstruct the history of the muṣḥaf – the Qur’anic book – and of the people who made, copied and transmitted them over time. There are traditional methods of manuscript analysis, such as palaeography, codicology and philology, as well as physico-chemical analysis techniques that get to the heart of the writing materials.
Traditional methods
Palaeography
The history of writing is a dynamic history of graphic manifestations that the palaeographer must decipher, date and locate. To do this, they adopt two approaches. One is synchronic: by observing the script used, they seek to understand the date and place of creation of an artefact, as well as the way in which the scribe organised his copying work. The other approach is diachronic, in that it involves reconstructing the process by which individual signs and the overall graphic system were transformed over time.
Palaeography is often considered to be a ‘subjective’ method, based on an individual’s ability to identify scripts and copyists. However, observing the same process of study, conventions and verification of the same criteria ensures the reliability of this approach. With the use of machine learning algorithms, it is now possible to achieve a high level of standardisation while automating a tedious process.
Thanks to palaeographical observations, it is possible to: 1. Identify the same scribe in different folios. 2. Assign a text to a stylistic group. 3. Assign an undated script to the same graphic environment in which one or more dated or datable manuscripts were produced.
Codicology
Codicology involves the physical examination of a manuscript in order to understand how a book is made, and to follow the production process from the choice of support to the binding operation. A wide range of codicological data must be measured, such as the quality of the support, the dimensions of the leaf and the text area, the structure of the quires, the ruling, etc.
This codicological data can enable us to: 1. evaluate the economic investment behind the production of a manuscript. 2. Reconstruct the manuscript when it is in pieces, and give us information about how the text itself was originally structured (see my article: “The San’a’ Palimpsest: Materializing the Codices”). 3. Gather evidences about the time and place of production of the manuscript.
Art history
Art history is the academic analysis of art objects in their historical development and stylistic context. Thanks to this discipline, we can make comparisons between the decoration of undated manuscripts and other works of art whose historical context is better known. As a result, we propose a relative dating for the manuscript.
Text analysis
The study of the text focuses on the content of the manuscript. In the case of Qur’anic manuscripts, this analysis is based on three axes:
- Study of the consonantal skeleton (rasm) – including diacritical dots – and its variants,
- Analysis of the divisions of the text – into verses, groups of verses, surahs and sections (juz’, ḥizb, etc…),
- Qur’anic readings (qirā’āt). Other elements, such as interlinear translations or marginal commentaries can complete the analysis.
These different elements may make it possible to reassemble scattered leaves that originally belonged to the same manuscript, but also to assess the period, region or community in which the manuscript was produced and circulated.
Physico-chemical analyses
These techniques fall into the category of archaeometry, in other words “measuring ancient things”. Archaeometers – scientists who work in laboratories – aim to produce quantitative and qualitative measurements of ancient materials. These measurements serve several purposes.
Radiocarbon dating of manuscripts
Radiocarbon dating is an invasive method (requiring material to be sampled) that provides objective estimates of the age of carbon-based materials from living organisms. This technique applies to parchment, papyrus and paper, but can also be used for other materials of organic origin.
The use of radiocarbon enables us to establish an absolute chronology of the emergence of the Qur’an as a muṣḥaf/codex and the evolution of script styles. In recent decades, improvements in techniques have made it possible to reduce the quantity of samples required for analysis (today the weight of the sample must be around 0.1 g). As a result, more and more early manuscripts are analysed in order to estimate their age.
Radiocarbon dating is not without risk. Besides the risk of destroying samples during the pre-treatment process, there is also the risk of contamination, as samples are taken from the edges of the leaves. This contamination – by chemicals used for restoration or treatment against damp and fungi – can lead to inaccurate results. You should also bear in mind the restrictions set by the calibration curve. For certain periods, the curve stabilises more or less strongly – forming a plateau – so that the radiocarbon age will correspond to a significantly wide time interval in real years.
Analysing inks and writing media
Archaeometric analysis of writing materials provides information on the composition of writing materials (parchment or paper in our case) and the inks used. To illustrate examples of application: multispectral imaging can show differences between the pigments used on two areas of a given sheet. They can also suggest potential pigments or ingredients that are more likely to have been used. The data collected sheds light on production techniques and enables categories to be established based on the type of inks used, the coloured pigments, the animal species used to make the parchment, the organic and inorganic materials employed to prepare the surface, and so on.
Several types of analysis can be used on manuscripts: microscopic observations, fluorescence, infrared and reflectance spectroscopy, multispectral imaging, proteomic analyses, etc.
It is important to be aware of the limitations of these analyses. First of all, remember that these analyses are carried out on a product that has been damaged over time and has certainly been restored one or more times. The substrate is therefore likely to contain original components as well as ingredients used for restoration. In this case, similar analyses carried out on other manuscripts will be useful in distinguishing unusual components added during the restoration process. Similarly, damage caused by fire, water and fungal attack may prevent the analysis of certain areas of the parchment or paper and force us to consider a second-choice area.
Archaeometric analysis does not directly provide an absolute chronology of the manuscripts, but the results will provide useful indications for characterizing a manuscript. These results allow us to: 1. Identify the pigments and materials common to the leaves of the same unit. 2. Reassemble the leaves of the same codicological unit. 3. Measure homogeneity within the same codicological unit. 4. Produce knowledge about techniques and materials used in a given context of production, use or conservation.
Combining these disciplines and applying them to an increasingly large corpus will open up new perspectives on Qur’anic writing practices, by attempting to reintegrate them into their cultural and material environment.
Reconstructing these contexts faces multiple challenges…
The first challenge is the chronology and geography of the manuscripts. Date and place of production are often lacking in the manuscripts of the first three Islamic centuries and beyond.
In addition to date and geographical origin, socio-historical issues are just as important: who were the people who copied and transmitted the manuscripts? How and why did they copy and transmit them? In other words, what was the place of the Qur’anic manuscript in Islamic society over the centuries?
The answers to these questions can certainly be found in the manuscripts themselves. Their physical characteristics are obviously the signature of those who made them, commissioned them and used them over time. We therefore need to identify and decipher these characteristics in order to group the manuscripts together, and try to situate them in time and space, but also within a social practice (in relation to the function of the book).
Here are the objectives of my research, which combines traditional methods – palaeography, codicology, art history, text analysis – with physico-chemical analysis techniques.