Re: Ink and paper analysis?

[bfarnell@xxxxxxx]

Of course if this were a movie we could look at tiny bits of pollen and
spores stuck to the vellum when the ink was laid down and identify the
part of the world it was written in.  Anyone have a good Hollywood class
archeo-botanist and a spare electron microscope lying around?  Still,
seems like there is probably something there that could date it or place
it, but the test may not have been developed yet and/or is exorbitantly
expensive.  Probably some ambitious grad-student could make a PhD
project out of it.  There has to be something there, whether it is
accessible with current techniques or not.  BTW, has anyone ever come to
a definite conclusion whether we are looking at virgin vellum or
pre-used vellum?  What exactly is the catalog of materials used to make
the manuscript, and how many of those are original?  I'm not big on the
c-14 thing, and I understand the inks were pretty standard, maybe
there's something in the binding?  

Hey, Mitochondrial DNA, we may not know who wrote it, but maybe we can
find the vellum's mother!

Regards,
Brian