IANS

Washington, Dec 13: A micro-chemical analysis has stripped the Book of Mark, one of the most venerable tomes in the Chicago University collection, of its ancient lineage.

The book, a copy of the Gospel of Mark, was found to be counterfeit. It will remain in the university library as a document for scholars examining the authenticity of ancient books.

Scholars have argued for nearly 70 years over the provenance of what's called the Archaic Mark, a 44-page miniature book, known as a "codex", which contains the complete 16-chapter text of the Gospel of Mark in minuscule handwritten text.

Comprehensive analysis demonstrates that it is not a genuine Byzantine manuscript, but a counterfeit, she said, "made somewhere between 1874 and the first decades of the 20th century."

The manuscript, which also includes 16 colourful illustrations, has long been believed to be either an important witness to the early text of the gospel or a modern forgery, said Margaret Mitchell, professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature.

"The mystery is now solved from textual, chemical, and codicological (bookmaking) angles," said Mitchell, who first became intrigued by the codex when she saw it as a graduate student in 1982.

Mitchell said experts from multiple disciplines made the findings possible. "Our collective efforts have achieved what no single scholar could do -- give a comprehensive analysis of the composite artifact that is an illustrated codex.

"The data collected in this research process has given us an even deeper understanding of the exact process used by the forger," said Mitchell.

"It will, we hope, assist ongoing scholarly investigation into and detection of manuscripts forged in the modern period."

Since 1937, when Edgar J. Goodspeed, a University of Chicago biblical scholar, acquired the Archaic Mark, the manuscript has been an enigma. As early as 1947, scholars speculated about its authenticity, said a Chicago release.

These findings are slated for publication in Novum Testamentum.