25-12-2021, 06:11 AM
I don't think anyone is advocating for all pages to be rubbed vigorously in their entirety, just if there is some conservation work ever done, or pieces come off through wear, that the rubbings and/or detritus be tested for an array of dna possibilities, or are at least stored for the purposes of doing so in the future. What a travesty if such rubbings went in the trash because it was thought that to test it would bring futile results not worth whatever expense there might be associated with doing so at the time.
One would not look for dna of specific people known to have contact, but if human dna were to be found, one could possibly test the results against people known to have contact, or their descendants or cousins as the case may be, thereby identifying the uknown dna if it should happen to indicate a match to any of the known possibilities. If it doesn't, then there are many possibilities left over, all of those who touched it that we don't know about. I have no idea if people who view the ms nowadays are logged as doing so, are they? That list, if it exists, could be possibly be checked against as well to eliminate those people. Start that list now if there isn't one, but i can only imagine that one does exist, at least partially, through appoinments for viewing, or signing in etc.
Besides the few people we see listed as having had contact (i am sure there would be far more) one could include the known researchers since Wilfred, unless it is known they never had actual contact with the ms. I don't know the status of dna tech or how well they can tell how old a sample might be, but who knows what the status might be in the future, so there çould well be other clues that come along with the findings that could help identify the nature of it, which may offer more information toward determining where it was made and possibly by whom, at least in some general sense. I don't really think we will know their history per se, but that remains to be seen.
I am actually more interested in the animal dna in the parchment idea, since it would seem the animals would roam the world far less than people do, and haven't since had their bretheren making contact, and so their dna information might supply the location of the early existence of the ms and possibly also provide corroboration or further pinpointing on the timing of its origins. There would certainly be more of it than any trace remains of contact. That in conjunction with databases of other dna results over time, whether human or animal, could supply some further possibilities if the genealogical record of the place is complete enough as well. Knowing the location and timing of the origins of the materials would help formulate likelihoods regarding languages and possibly the historical socio-political climate of the time in that location.
I come up with further ancestors all the time in my own tree as more data is digitised and/or people's various namings within the records are determined to indicate variously recorded people as one and the same. Who knows where all that will take us in the next few decades as the knowledge pool increases. Genealogical dna testing is still in its infancy as near as i can tell, but the passing of time may find it done for everyone in the future, especially if combined with doing so for medical or other reasons. So it is with the possibilities of future abilities in mind that we should think about preservation of what might otherwise just be dust in the wind.
One would not look for dna of specific people known to have contact, but if human dna were to be found, one could possibly test the results against people known to have contact, or their descendants or cousins as the case may be, thereby identifying the uknown dna if it should happen to indicate a match to any of the known possibilities. If it doesn't, then there are many possibilities left over, all of those who touched it that we don't know about. I have no idea if people who view the ms nowadays are logged as doing so, are they? That list, if it exists, could be possibly be checked against as well to eliminate those people. Start that list now if there isn't one, but i can only imagine that one does exist, at least partially, through appoinments for viewing, or signing in etc.
Besides the few people we see listed as having had contact (i am sure there would be far more) one could include the known researchers since Wilfred, unless it is known they never had actual contact with the ms. I don't know the status of dna tech or how well they can tell how old a sample might be, but who knows what the status might be in the future, so there çould well be other clues that come along with the findings that could help identify the nature of it, which may offer more information toward determining where it was made and possibly by whom, at least in some general sense. I don't really think we will know their history per se, but that remains to be seen.
I am actually more interested in the animal dna in the parchment idea, since it would seem the animals would roam the world far less than people do, and haven't since had their bretheren making contact, and so their dna information might supply the location of the early existence of the ms and possibly also provide corroboration or further pinpointing on the timing of its origins. There would certainly be more of it than any trace remains of contact. That in conjunction with databases of other dna results over time, whether human or animal, could supply some further possibilities if the genealogical record of the place is complete enough as well. Knowing the location and timing of the origins of the materials would help formulate likelihoods regarding languages and possibly the historical socio-political climate of the time in that location.
I come up with further ancestors all the time in my own tree as more data is digitised and/or people's various namings within the records are determined to indicate variously recorded people as one and the same. Who knows where all that will take us in the next few decades as the knowledge pool increases. Genealogical dna testing is still in its infancy as near as i can tell, but the passing of time may find it done for everyone in the future, especially if combined with doing so for medical or other reasons. So it is with the possibilities of future abilities in mind that we should think about preservation of what might otherwise just be dust in the wind.