A medieval manuscript has confounded scholars for centuries. Have they been reading it wrong all this time?
Researchers argue incorrect binding of Voynich manuscript radically changes ideas about its drawings and indecipherable text
TL;DR
- New research suggests the Voynich manuscript was mis-bound in the mid to late 15th century.
- The pages may have originally been arranged as 'singulions' (stacked) rather than 'nested'.
- This mis-binding has made understanding the manuscript's purpose and content difficult for centuries.
- The new theory suggests the manuscript was a communal object for passing down knowledge, not the work of a single individual.
- Structural anomalies and artistic inconsistencies in the current binding are explained by the 'singulion' hypothesis.
- The arrangement could have been similar to north African Qurans used for instruction or a book of women's folk knowledge.
- Paleographical analysis indicates the manuscript may have been written by up to five different scribes.