From papyrus to paper: Elemental characterization by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

The use of the elemental composition, determined by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), to characterize ancient and modern papyrus and parchment, and newspaper from three different years is reported. The concentrations of S, Cl, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Br, Rb, Sr, Ba and Pb were determined in these samples in order to proceed to its characterization. From this work, we can conclude that the obtained results allow distinguishing modern and ancient documents by its elemental amount. It was observed, with few exceptions, that the modern samples present lower elemental concentration than the older ones. Furthermore, in the newspaper samples the number of detected elements depends on the newspaperʹs age, and decreases from the oldest (1919) to the most recent (2005). X-ray fluorescence spectrometry is a good elemental technique with the main advantage of being non-destructive, which makes it the perfect tool for the elemental analysis of cultural heritage.