Joseph Barabe

In the field of document examination, several approaches can be taken to probe the authenticity of a piece of ancient writing. Scholars have the task of analyzing, and possibly translating, the language and content of a document, and assessing the character and quality of the script. Materials characterization plays another role. Both the document substrate and the ink can be examined to determine whether the materials and methods of creation are consistent with those known to be used during the historical period to which the document is attributed. More importantly, the analyst must be on the lookout for the presence of components that were not available during that time, and which would place the document's creation at a later date. Authentication should then really be viewed as 1) failure to uncover evidence of forgery, and 2) placement of results in a known historical context. Provenance is also important; knowledge of how a document was discovered, stored, transported or conserved may aid in accounting for the presence of materials found in the course of analysis. All of these methodologies were brought to bear on the Gospel of Judas, the discovery and restoration of which was recently revealed by the National Geographic Society.I The papyrus document was found in a codex, or ancient book, and is said to date from the third or fourth century C.E. The document is an example of Coptic (Egyptian Christian) writing, and is believed to be a translation of a Greek text written before 180 C.E. The gospel is of tremendous significance to biblical scholars because it portrays Judas Iscariot as a friend to Jesus Christ, rather than a betrayer. It was hidden for nearly 1,700 years before being discovered in the late 1970's.2 The conditions under which it was stored and transported since its discovery have left it in very fragile condition, and it is currently undergoing restoration.  In addition to contextual analysis, the National Geographic Society had the codex materials characterized in several ways. Ra­diocarbon dating of the papyrus was performed by of Dr. Timothy Juli, Director of the NSF-Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory at the University of Arizona, Tucson. The ages of both the papyrus and the leather codex binding fell within the third or fourth centuries C.E. Multispectral imaging of selected pages was performed by Dr. Gene A. Ware, Adjunct Professor at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. The work was carried out in the university's Papyrological Imaging Laboratory, and results were consistent with imaging of other ancient papyri examined there. Analysis of the codex ink was performed by a team of scientists at McCrone Associates, Inc. in Westmont, Illinois, where a variety of characterization techniques were used to identify the ink com­ponents. The highlights of the ink analysis, performed within a three-month time frame, are presented here.

The forger’s strategy is straightforward: convince the person with the power (usually with the money) to accept the piece and pay the price. For most, this means keeping it simple, using materials and techniques that will convince on a superficial level but not invite scrutiny. The analyst evaluating the authenticity of the object must sift through the available evidence with the
goal of uncovering just those methods and materials that are consistent with an artist or an age (suggesting authenticity) or inconsistent, indicating non-authenticity. An authentication study may be seen, then, as a contest between the two competing strategies of willful forger and the disinterested analyst. With highly complex objects, a team of experts may be called upon to collaborate in the study. This paper will focus on the analysis of a particularly complex work, the “Archaic Mark” codex, which was reputed to be a manuscript version of the Gospel of Mark possibly created in the 14th century but suspected to be a fake. The analytical team consisted of curatorial and conservation staff at the University of Chicago Library Special Collections, a New Testament scholar, a prominent manuscript conservator/codicologist, and a microscopist. The multidisciplinary approach was especially fruitful, not only
proving the item false but illuminating the forger’s methods and overall strategy as well.