Re: The Vinland Map's Ink



Ken Towe wrote:
>
> Mr. Renfors would like have with some facts re. Mrs. Olin's thesis.
> I posted this earlier and I must assume that he missed it...

Ken if you are hell bent on being formal you may call me SIR.

> "I have now checked on the decomposition temperatures of "green
> vitriol" (ferrous sulfate, 7 H2O)*.

FeSO4.7H2O

> Combining several references, I
> find that from about 57°C (135°F) to about 115°C (240°F) the water
> of crystallization begins to leave. At about 280°C (536°F) all the
> water is removed. Thus, somewhere above about 115°C to about 280°C
> the material is calcined and whiteness is achieved. However, above
> about 300°C (572°F) the compound decomposes. Toxic sulfur oxide fumes
> form, the ferrous iron begins to oxidize to ferric iron and hematite
> (Fe2O3) forms. In medieval times this red stuff was referred to as
> "colcothar vitrioli".

???Fe203 as in.... RUST?

How to achieve Fe2o3:
http://yarchive.net/explosives/fe2o3.html

> "Colcothar Vitrioli: Red oxide of iron. Produced by heating green
> vitriol" (Reference: http://www.thelitterbox.org/li brum/chem/)

That URL doesn't work. Nor do I know what the hell you are on about
now, as Olin's theory does NOT involve (nor mention) calcining. She
talks about a "leaching process" - quite the opposite from calcining.

"This explanation is based on the fact that titanium frequently occurs
with iron in nature, and the anatase could be present in the ink
through a natural process. In modern practice, when anatase (TiO2) is
manufactured from the mineral ilmenite (FeTiO3), green vitriol
(FeSO4<>2H2O), the iron component of medieval inks, is produced as a
byproduct (Heslop and Robinson 1967: 639). The reverse could also have
been true. Therefore, the association of anatase with a medieval ink
seems quite plausible, and its presence need not prove that the Map is
a forgery." - Olin (Pre-Columbiana, Vol. 2, No. 1, June 2000, pp.
27-36).

She goes on to talk about "heating" in this manner:

"Biringuccio described how the ore was then washed, the wash solution
was decanted off, and this solution heated in large vats. The
thickened solution was finally used to produce the vitriol
(Biringuccio 1959: 95-98)." - ibid

So now we see that it involves a temperature no greater than 100 C
rendering the quoted material meaningless. More importantly is this:

"Green vitriol could contain anatase if it were produced from an ore
which contained ilmenite. The presence of iron as a major constituent
in some areas of the ink of the Vinland Map has been established.
Especially important is the fact that no complete studies of inks from
other authentic period documents are available for comparison to allow
confirmation or denial of the presence of anatase in other inks of the
time." - ibid.

....and once again I repeat, there is nothing in the VM's ink that can
be labelled as "unusual" or "pointing to a fake" because of that last
sentence above.

> Given this information, it adds considerable support to the statements
> made by McCrone, Brown & Clark, and myself to the effect that such a
> heating STEP for the preparation of an iron-gall ink in medieval times
> (600-1000°C) is unknown and inconceivable, if not impossible, milling
> or no milling.

Here is another implied statement that is erroneous. That ONLY
"iron-gall ink" existed "in medieval times". This is not true.

> After all, if the principal ingredient in the
> preparation of iron-gall inks is a ferrous compound, the heating of it
> to >600°C (actually closer to 800°C) would leave the gallotannate
> "juices" without a chemical with which to combine.

Again we see a closed mind in operation. The above can only have been
written with the mind on a process requiring calcining irrespective of
and contrary to what has actually been stated by those he points to -
or a 1920's anatase production in mind. It has nothing to do with
anything here.

And if one takes note of what Olin said once again:

"The yellow or yellowish-brown color of the Map's ink has been
attributed to the presence of ilmenite iron in the anatase (McCrone
1994: 101-02)." - ibid

.....and this time it includes McCrone as well! Again recall the
earlier statement "Green vitriol could contain anatase if it were
produced from an ore which contained ilmenite." - well McCrone said
"ilmenite", didn't he!!


> > Bottom line? The Olin hypothesis is no longer relevant!

Bottom line - that lot was irrelevant as it starts from an erroneous
position and ends up in the same place! As they say - "Rubbish in =
rubbish out".


As I have already pointed to in the past:

"Small amounts of rutile and brookite are found for powders produced
at 700, 800, and 900 °C after calcination at 600 °C for 3 hours. The
rutile and brookite impurities are believed to be concentrated on the
surface of anatase based on a comparison of results of Raman and x-ray
diffraction studies. The more surface sensitive Micro-Raman analysis
may be better suited to characterize the structural parameters of
photocatalytic powders than bulk x-ray techniques." -

http://ihome.ust.hk/~keckchan/TiO2.html

So this is a new method using vapour hydrolysis at high temperatures
to produce a TiO2 powder that then requires calcining. This
*calcining* at temperatures of 600+ C also produces impurities of
rutile and brookite. The higher the calcining temp. the more
impurities and you suggest 800 C as a temperature! Are we asked to
believe that a clearly inefficient procedure of the 1920 were able to
produce PURE anatase without any of the tell-tale impurities?
Impurities said to be visible by the equipment use by B&C - but NOT
found if it existed (among numerous other failures)!

I also note that Ken does NOT respond to any of my more substantive
posts where I dismantle his "claims" - why is that? He is not in a
position to defend his claims?

--
SIR - Philosopher unauthorised
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The one who is educated from the wrong books is not educated, he is
misled.
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.

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