Category Archives: Radiocarbon analysis

New Radiocarbon Analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Posted on June 5, 2025 by Brent Nongbri

An important new study of the Dead Sea Scrolls has just been published (open access!) in the journal PLOS One: Mladen Popović et al., “Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis,” PLOS One 2025. In some ways, … Continue reading →

Posted in Dead Sea Scrolls, Frank Moore Cross, Palaeography, Radiocarbon analysis | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Two Good Books on the Shroud of Turin

Posted on August 27, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

When I was writing God’s Library, I did a good bit of reading on the Shroud of Turin. I used it as an example for which radiocarbon dating was ideally suited, namely a situation in which the date of an … Continue reading →

Posted in Radiocarbon analysis | 5 Comments

The Upcoming Sale of the Crosby-Schøyen Codex (Just How Old is this Book?)

Posted on April 4, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

It has been an unusually busy news week for Coptic codices. I posted a few days ago about the Mudil Psalms codex, and then yesterday several news outlets reported that Christie’s will be auctioning off the Crosby-Schøyen codex, a papyrus … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Antiquities Market, Codices, Codicology, Crosby-Schøyen Codex, Maguid Sameda, Radiocarbon analysis, Schøyen Collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Radiocarbon Analysis of Museum of the Bible Manuscripts: Bodmer Psalms

Posted on January 13, 2024 by Brent Nongbri

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Bruce Ferrini, Dirk Obbink, Frieda Tchacos, Green Collection, Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Radiocarbon analysis, Tchacos-Ferrini Codices, Tchacos-Ferrini Exodus Codex | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Radiocarbon Analysis of Papyrus and Parchment Manuscripts: A List

Posted on February 22, 2023 by Brent Nongbri

It occurs to me that it would be useful to have (as complete as possible) a list of papyrus and parchment manuscripts that have been subjected to radiocarbon analysis. I have tried to arrange this list chronologically by the date … Continue reading →

Posted in Cologne Mani Codex, Crosby-Schøyen Codex, Dead Sea Scrolls, Glazier Codex, P.Sapph. Obbink, Radiocarbon analysis | 13 Comments

A New Article on the Date of Codex Sinaiticus

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Brent Nongbri

The October 2022 issue of Journal of Theological Studies will contain an article I wrote on the dating of Codex Sinaiticus. It’s out now in pre-print format, and thanks to my institution–MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society–the article … Continue reading →

Posted in Codex Sinaiticus, Codices, Palaeography, Radiocarbon analysis | 3 Comments

Radiocarbon Dating of the Cologne Mani Codex

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Brent Nongbri

In volume 220 of Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik (2021), there is a short article by Cornelia Römer: “Die Datierung des Kölner Mani-Kodex” (pp. 94-96). The article reports the results of AMS radiocarbon analysis of the Cologne Mani codex. For … Continue reading →

Posted in Anton Fackelmann, Codices, Codicology, Cologne Mani Codex, Radiocarbon analysis | 5 Comments

A New Project: The Early History of the Codex

Posted on June 6, 2021 by Brent Nongbri

A busy semester is now winding down, and I’m happy to announce that in August, I’ll be kicking off a new, five-year project: The Early History of the Codex: A New Methodology and Ethics for Manuscript Studies (EthiCodex) based here … Continue reading →

Posted in Codices, Codicology, Radiocarbon analysis | 9 Comments

A New Radiocarbon Calibration Curve and Early Christian Manuscripts

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Brent Nongbri

I gave a talk on early Coptic books a few weeks ago in which I mentioned the results of some radiocarbon analyses of Coptic codices. Now I learn that some of what I said is already out of date! A … Continue reading →

Posted in Glazier Codex, Radiocarbon analysis | 7 Comments

The Radiocarbon Dating of the “New Sappho” Papyrus

Posted on August 10, 2019 by Brent Nongbri

In my last post on the various discrepancies in the origin story of the Sappho papyrus published in 2014, I mentioned an article by Dirk Obbink published in The Times Literary Supplement on 5 February 2014. In this article, Professor … Continue reading →

Posted in Antiquities Dealers and Collectors, Dirk Obbink, P.Sapph. Obbink, Radiocarbon analysis | 12 Comments