Currently, scanning of watermarks is underway at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. Paper from the seventeenth century that was used in Iceland is being investigated as part of a fundamental research project called “Life of paper”, which is a collaboration between the Árni Magnússon Institute and the National Library of Iceland – University Library. The Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation in Magdeburg, Germany, was contracted for work on the scanning. The goal is to identify the origins of the paper and to gain a better understanding of how it was used in Iceland, such as determining its age when it was written upon. The imaging will last for two weeks, with up to 150 watermarks scanned each day.

The images show Silvia Hufnagel, a researcher on the project, Andreas Herzog from the Fraunhofer IFF Institute in Magdeburg and Vasarė Rastonis, conservator at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies preparing a manuscript for imaging with a hyperspectral camera.