Provenancing and Dating

To understand written artefacts holistically, we need to go beyond the text. We want to grasp the entire ‘biography’ of a written artefact. A key chapter of such an ‘object biography’ is, of course, its production. In order to comprehend a written artefact in its historical context, we need precise information about when, where, and under what circumstances it was produced, and by whom. In times of complex debates about the restitution of cultural heritage objects, the issue of provenance is not least an ethical one. Material analyses can provide a solid empirical basis for these normative debates. Written artefacts also undergo deliberate changes, for example through editions, comments, and amendments. Identifying their complex topography with scientific methods can provide researchers with further in-depth information on the other chapters of the object’s biography.

By combining the philological expertise of our humanities scholars with the analytical methods available in the Mobile Lab, we are making progress in dating and provenancing written artefacts made from materials as diverse as paper, papyrus, parchment, and palm leaves.