Manuscripts as Fossils: Population-Biology Equations Estimate Medieval Texts' Likelihood of Survival
Klarreich, Erica, Science News
Through the ages, innumerable texts have been consumed by fire, war, theft, and other disasters. Each ancient or medieval manuscript in existence today has its own story of survival against the odds, whether the document was tucked away in an obscure monastery for a millennium or stolen by Vikings and passed from collector to collector. Manuscript experts have long puzzled over the question, what fraction of ancient works has survived?
Paleontologist John Cisne of Cornell University brings a fresh approach to this problem. He regards handwritten medieval manuscripts as fossils from an extinct population. Using equations from population biology, he has created a mathematical model that suggests, happily, that we have at least fragments of the majority of popular medieval …
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Publication information:
Article title: Manuscripts as Fossils: Population-Biology Equations Estimate Medieval Texts' Likelihood of Survival.
Contributors: Klarreich, Erica - Author.
Magazine title: Science News.
Volume: 167.
Issue: 15
Publication date: April 9, 2005.
Page number: 231.
© 2009 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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