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Re: orion Re: DNA hide tests
At 03:50 PM 10/26/97 -0800, you wrote:
>Palimpsests, manuscripts on which scribes erased an earlier text and re-used
>the vellum or parchment
>for a new text, are especially well-known from medieval ecclesiastical
>circles. [snip] Modern historians, who tend naturally to be
>more interested in older materials, have employed infra-red and digital
>enhancement techniques to recover the erased text, often with remarkable
>results. I seem to recall also that several significant palimpsests have
been
>found at St Catherine's on Mt Sinai.
>
I did not mean to speculate or imply that the DSS were written on re-used
materials. I only wanted to raise the point that one should be careful
when doing "scientific material analysis." I know that infra-red and
digital enhancements can be used to restore erased text. DNA testing,
Carbon-14, or other tests are only pieces of the puzzle. Other data must
be used to establish a reliable date.
DDS
Daniel D. Stuhlman
Hebrew Theological College
Saul Silber Memorial Library
7135 N Carpenter Road
Skokie, IL 60077
847-982-2500
ssmlhtc@nslsilus.org