Differentiation of species and provenance of palm leaf manuscripts using Fourier-Transform infrared spectrocopy and chemometrics

For the authentication and interpretation of palm leaf manuscripts, material analyses are required that enable the identification of specific characteristics of the written artefacts. In this study we apply infrared spectroscopy (DRIFTS) in combination with chemometrics as a fingerprinting technique for the analysis of palm leaf manuscripts. We demonstrate that manuscript specific information is obtained and that a differentiation regarding the taxonomic species of the palm leaves used for production and their geographical origin in South and Southeast Asia is possible. The results show the potential of infrared spectroscopy for fingerprinting and authentication of written artefacts.