There may be no more famous example of an illuminated manscript than the Book of Kells. While it is well known as one of the most beautiful surviving illuminated manscripts, surprisingly, very little is actually known about the manuscript and its origins. Finally, modern science will be used to learn more about this treasure. From [...]

Yet another layer of history has been discovered in a Christian prayer book attributed to John Myronas. The most recent discovery is the third layer of text discovered in this recycled 13th century manuscript. In 2002, modern multi-sectional and multi-spectral imaging methods discovered greek writings from the 4th century. An article in the National Geographic [...]

Scientists are working out methods to use the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to learn more about the origins of medieval manuscripts. Notable in this effort is Christopher Howe at Cambridge University. From Howe’s webpage: There are striking parallels between how mutations accumulate in DNA sequences as they evolve, and how changes were incorporated into manuscripts [...]