RE: [split] Ms. germ. fol. 642
R. Sale > 31-01-2021, 08:50 PM
Rene,
Of course, you are familiar with the standard method of calculation for the C-14 data. Based on the fairly large margin of error inherent in the measurements, it is a potentially valid assumption that all four samples of parchment *could* have been produced at a certain time - within a specific, limited range of years, let's say (1404-1438).
However, given the extent of the uncertainty in C-14 testing, even though its accuracy in the 1400s is better than in other periods of time, the test is not able to distinguish between parchment samples that were made, five, ten, even twenty years apart. Such a difference is difficult to measure regarding C-14, but would be much more significant regarding parchment production as it relates to the time of VMs composition.
Of the four samples taken from the VMs, there is one, the most recent one, that stands somewhat apart from the other three. This could be due to various factors involved with the testing procedure, in which case the single-source hypothesis would still be applicable. *OR* it could be indicative of parchment that actually was produced in a second and somewhat newer batch. The C-14 test is just not sufficiently sensitive to make that determination. However, in terms of VMs composition and completion, having a second and more recent parchment source would move the final date for the entirety of VMs parchment manufacture out of the first quarter of the 1400s and into the second or perhaps the third quarter. If this were the case, it would allow for elements of the VMs to be influenced by and connected to sources somewhat outside (newer than) the single source time span and still be part of a "genuine" document.