Carbon dating of palm-leaf MSS?

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Many thanks!  I've now forgotten who originated the query, but I'll search 
and forward your email.

Best,


-- 
Dr Dominik Wujastyk
International Institute of Asian Studies
http://iias.nl

long term email address: wujastyk at gmail.com




On Fri, 1 May 2009, Mark Allon wrote:

> Dominik,
>
> Sorry for the delay, but mail takes a long time to get to Australia!
>
> Your friend may be interested in the following article by myself, Richard Salomon, and two scientists:
>
> Allon, Mark, R. Salomon, G. Jacobsen, and U. Zoppi. 2006. “Radiocarbon Dating of Kharoṣṭhī Fragments from the Schøyen and Senior Manuscript Collections.” In Jens Braarvig, ed., Buddhist Manuscripts III. Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection 4, pp. 279–91. Oslo: Hermes Publishing.
>
> If he wants a pdf, I'll send it to you.
>
> Regards
> Mark Allon
> University of Sydney
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indology [mailto:INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Dominik Wujastyk
> Sent: Tuesday, 7 April 2009 7:38 PM
> To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
> Subject: Carbon dating of palm-leaf MSS?
>
> This message is forwarded on behalf of R. Ganapathy, who is not a member
> of this forum.  Please be sure to CC any replies to him, at
> <rg1939 at rcn.com>
>
> Dominik Wujastyk
> INDOLOGY committee
>
> ------------ Forwarded Message -----------
> On Fri, 3 Apr 2009, RG wrote:
>
>> Dear Dr Wujastyk:
>>
>> I got your address through a friend of mine in London.
>>
>> I was a Senior Res Associate at the Enrico Fermi Inst of the Univ of Chicago
>> many years ago.
>>
>> I have a palm leaf manuscript, 868 pages, with grantha script describing
>> Valmiki's Ramayan. I got this from an antique shop in Cochin five years ago.
>>
>> Because grantha was used in South India to transmit Sanskrit language, I
>> decided to date this using carbon-14 method using accelerator mass
>> spectrometry. I just got the preliminary age few days ago, about 350 years
>> old from today.
>>
>> I searched the google to find other carbon 14 dates on the use of grantha
>> script. I did not get any useful information. Since I am new to this field,
>> I am looking for help in locating journals which publish C-14 dates on
>> Indian palm leaf manuscripts.  What kind of range do we have on these
>> dates?I would deeply appreciate if you can help me on this.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> R.Ganapathy
>>
>> Bethlehem, PA, USA
>>
>>
>