Thanks to Mike Holmes for informing me that the most recent issue of Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik contains an article reporting the results of radiocarbon analysis of five papyrus manuscripts and one parchment manuscript that took place about a decade ago:
Daniel Stevens, “Radiocarbon Analysis of Six Museum of the Bible Manuscripts,” Zeitshcrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 227 (2023) 153-160.
This follows upon the publication of the results of AMS analysis of the “Wyman Fragment” of Romans in 2022:
Daniel Stevens, “The Wyman Fragment: A New Edition and Analysis with Radiocarbon Dating,” New Testament Studies 68 (2022) 431-444.
Among the pieces just published in ZPE are some Egypt Exploration Society distribution papyri that were sold by Dirk Obbink to Hobby Lobby in 2010 (these are not the stolen Oxyrhynchus Papyri but rather pieces that were “distributed” to museums, universities, and seminaries after they were published in the early twentieth century). Also included are: P.Oxy. 15.1780 (New Testament P39, a distribution papyrus apparently not bought through Obbink), the Bodmer Psalms codex (P.Bodmer 24), and a piece of the Tchacos-Ferrini Exodus codex (MOTB PAP.000447).
There are some noteworthy features in this set of analyses. Two of the papyrus documents are dated internally from their textual contents: MOTB PAP.000379, a distribution papyrus from Tebtunis dated to 44 CE and P.Oxy. 12.1459 a document dated to 226 CE. Five samples were taken from P.Oxy. 12.459 and sent to five different labs. The results from four of the labs were in reasonable agreement, while the fifth lab produced results that were far too early. I’ll have more to say about this analysis later.
But for now I want to focus on one of the literary pieces that has interested me for a long time, P.Bodmer 24, a copy of the Psalms in Greek that the Greens purchased in a private sale from the Fondation Martin Bodmer (now MOTB MS.000170). This codex has been assigned to different dates over the years on the basis of its scripts (the codex is the work of two copyists). The original editors, Rodolphe Kasser and Michel Testuz, assigned the codex to the first quarter of the fourth century, without excluding a slightly earlier date.1 Similarly, Eric Turner described P.Bodmer 24 as “iii/iv.”2 Colin H. Roberts, however, assigned the codex to the second half of the second century on the following grounds:
“The first hand is of a common type of which a good example is my Greek Literary Hands 17a, which can be dated to the middle of the second century a.d. It is a hand of which the beginnings can be seen in Schubart, Pal. 3 abb. 79 and a later development in P.Graec.Berol. 20. The second hand is also of a familiar type; it has something in common with Schubart’s Pal. abb. 82 and with P.Graec.Berol. 31. I should have no hesitation in saying that the Bodmer Psalms was written in all probability in the second half of the second century a.d.“3
The results of the radiocarbon analysis shed some light on the discussion. The sample tested yielded an age of 1780 ± 20 radiocarbon years BP. A result in this range when adjusted using the latest calibration data (IntCal20) produces two discontinuous ranges of calendar dates:
The resulting ranges of calendar dates, 231-261 CE or 277-339 CE, are consistent with the palaeographic estimates of Kasser/Testuz and Turner, but these results cast doubt on the second century date assigned by Roberts. Thus, although the radiocarbon analysis does not give us a precise date (in fact it yields two discontinuous ranges that span just over a century), the AMS analysis does give us useful information that substantially improves our knowledge of the age of this codex: The papyrus used to make it was most likely harvested between about 230 and 340 CE.
- Rodolphe Kasser and Michel Testuz, Papyrus Bodmer XXIV: Psaumes XVII – CXVIII (Bibliotheca Bodmeriana, 1967), 22: “il ne serait pas impossible de la dater de la fin du IIIe siècle; il sera plus prudent, cependant, de l’attribuer à une époque un peu plus tardive: disons, grosso modo, le premier quart du IVe siècle.” ↩︎
- Eric G. Turner, The Typology of the Early Codex (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1977), 21, 59, and 171. ↩︎
- Jean-Dominique Barthélemy, “Le Psautier grec et le Papyrus Bodmer XXIV,” Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie, 3rd series, 19 (1969) 106-110, quotation at 106-107. ↩︎
Variant Readings 
Very interesting, Brent. This tends to support “subjective” dating of papyri using palaeographical analysis. Palaeography is only as good as the papyrologist who does it. Roberts was obviously a bit off and represents the outlier. Hindsight is 20/29 of course, but I can see what “misled” Roberts. There are a couple of “older” features that could be mistaken for later 2nd-century dating (e.g., the alpha’s stand out among the other letters). But the overall hand is definitely 3rd/4th cent. Roberts was mislead. With a little more time and a little more squinting, he should have been less confident about his earlier dating and could have come up with a later alternative, based on the overall look. It is never about individual letters but a general feel about the overall aspect, which only comes with years of experience. Misjudgments are inevitable, but the ‘”science” remains pretty sound. I trust palaeographers more who just state their preferences without resorting to comparanda. The drawing up of false comparisons is widely found, as you no doubt know.
–Roy
It’s interesting to see how the work of good scholars is backed up by scientific tests.
As an aside, people regularly ask what’s going on with Dirk Obbink: a NY Times journalist recently checked with Thames Valley Police, and he has still not been charged with any crime. I’d love to see a similar comparison of papyri he ‘dated’ as an antiquities dealer.
As an aside, Obbink also dabbled in Medieval manuscripts such as The Myrowr of Recluses https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/21/oxford-don-suspended-dirk-obbink-alleged-artefact-theft-myrowr-of-recluses-sale – it’s relevant here as some speculate he planned to use the money from the sale to pay back US collectors for to whom he had sold EES papyri. He bought it at Christie’s, sold it at a heavy loss through Bloomsbury Auctions and in theory the Export Bar has now lapsed so he can apply to take it out of the country.
The export bar was ‘payback’ from honest people in the rare books trade, furious with Obbink. I suspect that, like one of P.Bodmer 24 scribes, many were experimenting with slightly archaic handwriting every time they scribbled ‘schadenfreude’ …
Yes, I very much doubt the “second century” tag attached (most likely by Professor Obbink) to so many of the Oxyrhynchus pieces that spent some time in the Green/MOTB collection.