darstec

But without C14 verification, there are no checks and balances on paleography. And there are darn few comparisons to begin with. Little or nothing between the first and third centuries CE.

Besides it is far too easy for a scribe to copy a handwriting style to look old from a manuscript that looks old. Verneration of the old was as prominent in those centuries as it is in ours. Just check out any antique shop.

spin

If you want to complain about Yale's work, you know what you have to do. You don't have to sink to the level of our fundy friends. What part of the evidence do you have problem with, the secure dating or the iconography? I'll be happy to note your argued case.


spin

spin

What is necessary in order to do palaeography is a sufficient collection of dated materials as exemplars of specific fonts. In fact at Oxyrhynchus and Tebtunis there are many dated official texts available as exemplars. While the Dead Sea Scrolls have fundamentally a few securely dated texts from the Bar Kochba period and therefore quite insufficient for developing a substantial sequence of fonts and font variations, that situation does not reflect the vast collection from the Egyptians sites. The dated texts are usually local officials. The palaeography cannot be so easily overlooked for yes there are controls on the palaeography: you have internal datings, ie references within the letters to a dating system, for several centuries. You have to deal with this palaeography otherwise you would be in denial of well supported evidence.


spin

post tenebras lux

I have a problem with that fact that I don't know what Yale's evidence is. Does anybody know?

What was written on this scrap of paper found in the rubbish pit? Is there a photograph or sketching of it available, and where in Dura was the rubbish pit?



Likewise for this 'christian' graffito: what does it say, are there photos and/or sketches available and - with the use of the map above - can anyone kindly tell me which wall (or other structure) was it found scratched upon?