Digital Lunch Seminar Series

The Container Lab Mission to Analyse Palm-leaf Manuscripts

Giovanni Ciotti, Nathalie Holz

Monday, 26 January 2026, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm CET
Online lecture

Palm-leaf manuscripts represent one of the world’s most significant and numerous forms of handwritten artefacts. However, their material properties have hardly, if at all, been studied systematically. A team from the Cluster of Excellence ‘Understanding Written Artefacts’ is currently engaged in the study of a selection of such manuscripts originating from South India, in particular Puducherry and Tamil Nadu. The aim of this research is to gain insights into their production, geographical origin, use, and preservation.

Genomics-, proteomics-, and metabolomics-based methods are used to obtain the most comprehensive chemical information possible about the manuscripts. These non-targeted approaches aim to create high-resolution chemical profiles, which are then compared using chemometric methods. In this way, differences and similarities can be identified, allowing conclusions to be drawn about the above-mentioned research questions. In addition to the ancient manuscripts, fresh and unprocessed palm leaves from various species are also analysed, allowing the results and approaches developed to be transferred to the historical samples.

The results open up new research perspectives in philology, codicology, and palaeography, thereby improving our understanding of material and textual cultures in India and, potentially, throughout Asia.

Please register to attend: