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Re: orion Red, green, blue inks

At 01:00 AM 4/28/98 -0400, you wrote:

>   Discoveries in the Judean Desert: 12. Qumran Cave 4: VII Genesis to
>Numbers (1994)
>   Plate XLIX
>   Fragments 60, 67 and 71 appear to be in green/blue ink

These appear to be fragments that have suffered oxidization.  There is NO
way to determine if the scribe used different ink colors.  Thus, such a
hypothesis (as presented by Altman via Crowder), in indemonstrable.

>   Other fragments are with red or black ink

17i, 17ii, 13, 21, 26, 65, appear to have red ink.


> 
>   To be honest, I haven't seen these in color, so I can't say.

I have- I'm looking at them right now.  The so called "green/blue" ink is
simply black ink that has changed color over time.  This is what it looks
like to me.

 >Neil
>Altman and a scholar

who?

> at the University of Pennsylvania museum library
>certainly didn't think so. If the red is mercury sulfide, would it break
>down into these colors? Also, it seems the writers of the report in
>Archaeometry would have said something about it. That report baited Altman
>with the reference to different colored inks, green and blue, I believe,
>and sent him to DJD looking.  But the Archaeometry report with blithely on,
>making no mention of oxidation or oxidized cinnabar.  
>   Perhaps the dreary Essenes 

Oh that someone would show the supposed connection between the scrolls and
the Essenes.  Tis true that some beliefs overlap between the scrolls and
Josephus/Pliny.  But there were lots of sects in Judaism who had similar
beliefs.  It is the dissimilarities that are important (though the Essene
only crowd will have none of it).

>were more colorful and creative than we give
>them credit for.

Please!  Coloring scribes?  It stretches credulity to the limit.

>  And perhaps the colorbook religious texts got so out of
>hand that it led to the later rabbinical rules to keep biblical texts in
>black and white just about the time that everyone else was beginning to
>enjoy color.  <g>
>

Aaaaaaghhhhhhh.  Sadly, someone will see the above statement and believe it.

(n.b.- I wish Altman would subscribe to Orion himself instead of passing
along messages without subjecting them to scrutiny).

>David Crowder

Jim

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Quartz Hill School of Theology

jwest@highland.net