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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Quant.Geek, post: 8210497, member: 74799&quot;]A bit of history is in order.&nbsp; Palm leaves were used as the primary source of writing materials in South and Southeast Asia for hundreds of years.&nbsp; In India, it was the primary writing material for thousands of years. Each palm leaf could last about 500-600 years before its contents were copied over.</p><p><br /></p><p>The leaves from various types of palm trees were harvested, cooked, and then dried out.&nbsp; Once that was done, it was cut to size.&nbsp; Each leaf was etched with an iron stylus leaving groves:</p><p><img src="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36484/Sri_Lankan_Stylus_%282%29.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>The etchings produce the following on the dried leaf:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1440302[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Once the palm leaf has been etched, lamp black (a mixture of soot and oil) is applied onto the leaf and then wiped away leaving the lamp black embedded into the groves of the etching.&nbsp; This produces the crisp writing on the leaf. Note that the author, in this case, decided to only reveal the top portion of the leaf as opposed to the whole leaf:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1440303[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Below is a scribe using the stylus to etch onto the leaves:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1440315[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Holes were added so that the leaves could be bundled together to form a complete manuscript and finally, wooden boards were added to protect the leaves from damage:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/albums/userpics/36484/65041011_1_x.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>All the images above are from my collection <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. What I am doing is unraveling the bundle and scanning each leaf.&nbsp; It will be re-assembled once I am done and then sent to the university to be deciphered.&nbsp; I can&#039;t read most of these as either the language/script is foreign to me or the script is written differently than what is currently used.&nbsp; Topics range from science, medicine, religious stories, all the way up to novels and plays...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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