3D micro analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 at Khirbet Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea from which it derives its name, in the British Mandate for Palestine, in what is now named the West Bank. Recently, a research group led by Professor B. Kanngiesser (Technische Universität Berlin, Germany) has investigated the feasibility of merging two X-ray techniques, ordinary micro XRF and confocal 3D micro XRF for optimized analysis of highly inhomogeneous samples such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Ordinary micro XRF lacks information on the depth, but the measurement is efficient and rather quick. On the other hand, confocal 3D micro XRF has depth resolution, but the measurement takes very long. The authors found that the reliability of the analysis of highly heterogeneous samples can be improved by quantitatively combining both data. For more information, see the paper, "3D Micro-XRF for Cultural Heritage Objects: New Analysis Strategies for the Investigation of the Dead Sea Scrolls", I. Mantouvalou et al., Anal. Chem., Article ASAP (DOI: 10.1021/ac2011262 Publication Date (Web): June 29, 2011).