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'Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism' - The Missing Link |
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Past upheaval and uncertainty in war-torn Afghanistan have changed the course of Buddhist history following the appearance of rare manuscripts on the world's antiquities market during the last ten years. These scrolls are so priceless they have been dubbed the 'Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism' - the missing historical link.
The scrolls' revelation is linked to the Afghan war with Russia, the civil war and the consequent rule under the Taliban, a regime hostile to its non-Islamic heritage. During this time many archaeological sites were plundered or destroyed with some artefacts making their way out of the country. The most significant being these rare manuscripts.
The texts are now part of three major collections, one owned by the British Library and two by private individuals, known as the Senior and Schøyen collections. A study of their palaeography and other features suggested the scrolls date from the first century AD to the eighth century AD, the earliest being the oldest Buddhist and oldest Indian manuscripts yet discovered. The dates, however, needed verification.
Consequently the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) was asked to date two scroll samples from the Senior collection and three from the Schøyen collection. ANSTO has now announced that the Senior manuscripts are dated between the years 130-250 AD and the Schøyen between the first to fifth centuries AD. This has confirmed the initial dating, based on the form of the script and features of the language.
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One of the scrolls laid out
© British Library
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Dr Mark Allon, an Australian Research Fellow from the University of Sydney and member of an international group of scholars entitled the 'Early Buddhist Manuscript Project', is translating the scrolls and commissioned the ANSTO work: "The date confirmation is an exciting step towards filling the historical void that existed before the scrolls' discovery, in particular the Senior results," he said.
"Buddhism was originally an oral tradition although little was known about how it developed from spoken word to written word, so the scrolls will give us a unique insight into the development of Buddhist literature.
"As the Buddha died somewhere around 400 BC, writing in India was still unknown although it was eventually used to preserve texts and propagate the teaching sometime in the first century BC.
"Even though Buddhism has flourished throughout Asia and there is an enormous amount of literature available to us today, Buddhism disappeared from India, central Asia and the Indonesian archipelago and with it, many literary traditions," explained Dr Allon. "It's therefore extremely exciting when new manuscript discoveries are made.
"In particular, the Senior collection results make a major contribution to Indian chronology in showing that an early date of 78 AD for the Kushan emperor Kanishka is no longer tenable."
Dr Allon approached ANSTO in 2003 to date the manuscripts and after being awarded a $3,100 grant from The Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering, for radiocarbon dating using ANSTO's Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) Facility. Initial measurements began in 2004.
Dr Geraldine Jacobsen, who was in charge of the delicate chemistry needed to prepare the samples for AMS measurement said that before analysing the actual scroll - which was made out of birch bark - a sample chemistry test had to be conducted.
"As we had never tested birch bark before we needed to ensure we got the chemistry right as sometimes samples don't survive the pre-treatment stage," she said.
"We were provided with a birch bark sample from what was termed the 'debris box', these being fragments from the box in which the scrolls had been stored.
"In the treatment, we removed any impurities that could affect the date as we had no idea how the scrolls had been handled or if any attempts at conservation had been made before reaching us," Dr Jacobsen explained. "We therefore had to use a series of organic solvents, such as hexane, chloroform and methanol to remove grease or resins.
"This process was followed by washing with acid and alkaline solutions which removed other possible contaminants, including the solvents we used in the first step, as they would also have affected the date if they had remained."
Another problem Dr Jacobsen faced was the delicate nature of the birch bark which was extremely fragile and might be destroyed during treatments. However the test sample showed the bark could survive the chemistry and they proceeded to test the real thing. The sample was then processed to graphite, and measured at ANSTO's AMS Facility. The measurements were carried out by ANSTO's Dr Ugo Zoppi, who has since returned to the United States to continue his scientific career in this field.
It is important to remember that carbon dating dates the material itself, in this case when the bark grew, not the time the writing took place. However dating the bark gives a very good indication of when the texts were written. All in all, the discovery and dating of the scrolls has added valuable information to the annals of Buddhist history.
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