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.jpg "Pages from the mysterious Voynich Manuscript. (Wikimedia Commons)")
The mysterious Voynich Manuscript, which has perplexed scientists with its incomprehensible “totally alien” language, was created early in the 15th century, according to University of Arizona (UA) researchers using carbon-14 dating.
The puzzling book, dubbed “the world’s most mysterious manuscript,” contains unintelligible text and drawings by an unknown author. It was discovered near Rome in 1912 by an antique book dealer and now belongs to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University.
Lead researcher Greg Hodgins, a chemist and archaeological scientist from UA’s Department of Physics and School of Anthropology, has a certain fascination for the strange book.
“Is it a code, a cipher of some kind? People are doing statistical analysis of letter use and word use—the tools that have been used for code breaking. But they still haven’t figured it out,” Hodgins said in a UA press release.
The UA team used radiocarbon dating on four separate samples to determine that the manuscript is actually around 100 years older than previously believed, dating back to somewhere between 1404 and 1438.
“Carbon-14 is heavier than the other carbon isotopes,” Hodgins said. “This way, we can single out this isotope and determine how much of it is present in the sample. From that, we calculate its age.”
“In radiocarbon dating, there is this whole system of many people working at it,” Hodgins said. “It takes many skills to produce a date.” He explained the need for archaeological, biochemical, and chemical expertise; plus physicists, engineers, and statisticians.
The four samples were taken of the parchment pages, made from animal skin. Hodgins said the inks themselves cannot be accurately dated for several reasons, including the trace amounts present and that some are not carbon-based. But he said the colors match the Renaissance palette.
He thinks the enigmatic manuscript might contain secret knowledge relating to alchemy. “The text shows strange characteristics like repetitive word use or the exchange of one letter in a sequence,” he said in the release. “Oddities like that make it really hard to understand the meaning.”
“There are types of ciphers that embed meaning within gibberish,” he said. “Secrecy is sometimes associated with alchemy, and so it would be consistent with that tradition if the knowledge contained in the book was encoded. What we have are the drawings. Just look at those drawings: Are they botanical? Are they marine organisms? Are they astrological? Nobody knows.”
The puzzling book, dubbed “the world’s most mysterious manuscript,” contains unintelligible text and drawings by an unknown author. It was discovered near Rome in 1912 by an antique book dealer and now belongs to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University.
Lead researcher Greg Hodgins, a chemist and archaeological scientist from UA’s Department of Physics and School of Anthropology, has a certain fascination for the strange book.
“Is it a code, a cipher of some kind? People are doing statistical analysis of letter use and word use—the tools that have been used for code breaking. But they still haven’t figured it out,” Hodgins said in a UA press release.
The UA team used radiocarbon dating on four separate samples to determine that the manuscript is actually around 100 years older than previously believed, dating back to somewhere between 1404 and 1438.
“Carbon-14 is heavier than the other carbon isotopes,” Hodgins said. “This way, we can single out this isotope and determine how much of it is present in the sample. From that, we calculate its age.”
“In radiocarbon dating, there is this whole system of many people working at it,” Hodgins said. “It takes many skills to produce a date.” He explained the need for archaeological, biochemical, and chemical expertise; plus physicists, engineers, and statisticians.
The four samples were taken of the parchment pages, made from animal skin. Hodgins said the inks themselves cannot be accurately dated for several reasons, including the trace amounts present and that some are not carbon-based. But he said the colors match the Renaissance palette.
He thinks the enigmatic manuscript might contain secret knowledge relating to alchemy. “The text shows strange characteristics like repetitive word use or the exchange of one letter in a sequence,” he said in the release. “Oddities like that make it really hard to understand the meaning.”
“There are types of ciphers that embed meaning within gibberish,” he said. “Secrecy is sometimes associated with alchemy, and so it would be consistent with that tradition if the knowledge contained in the book was encoded. What we have are the drawings. Just look at those drawings: Are they botanical? Are they marine organisms? Are they astrological? Nobody knows.”
