A06_01

The relevance of carbon dating for the study of Oriental manuscripts and the history of the Qurʾān

Marx M¹

¹Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Potsdam, Germany

Since 2013 the research project “Corpus Coranicum” of Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities has carried out – in close collaboration with ETH Zurich – carbon dating of Oriental manuscripts (Arabic, Ancient South Arabian, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac) written on paper, papyrus, parchment and wooden palm sticks (Yemen) from collections in Europe and the Middle East. In the talk, an overview of this first systematic application of scientific measurements in the field of Oriental philology is presented. In the second part, the contribution of carbon dating results to the study of Oriental manuscripts and palaeography is discussed. We will describe also different positions of scholars in Arabic philology toward this established dating technique and its somewhat reluctant reception. In the third part, two recurrent types of problems encountered during our measurements campaign are presented: (1) divergent measurements from one and the same sample, (2) divergent measurements from different pages of one and the same manuscripts. In the fourth and final part, with regard to obtained measurements of manuscripts ms.or.fol. 4313 (Berlin), Cod. or. 14.545 a/b/c (Leiden), DAM 01-27.1 (Sanaa), DAM 01-29.1 (Sanaa) and Ma VI 165 (Tübingen), we will suggest an earlier chronology of Qurʾānic script styles (palaeography). Based on carbon dating, material evidence for the history of the Qurʾān can be traced back to middle of the 7th century, chronologically close to the proclamation of the Qurʾān (between 610 and 632 CE according to Muslim scholarly tradition).