Only Legally Acquired Artefacts Suitable for Study

Interesting press release from Norway:

The Research Council of Norway has allocated NOK 11.7 million to Professor Brent Nongbri's research project EthiCodex. The research project addresses the history of the early codex and aims to develop a new methodology and ethics for manuscript studies. [...] The EthiCodex project will attempt to [...] [create] a comprehensive and sustainable online searchable database of physical features and provenance histories of the earliest Greek and Latin codices. This database will clearly distinguish between books that were legally acquired by current owners and those that are confirmed or suspected of being illegally traded. The project will also increase the number of securely dated early codices by funding radiocarbon analysis of legally acquired codices. Finally, on the basis of this newly acquired data, the project will produce a more nuanced and fact-based discussion of what we can know of the history of the early codex.

Congratulations to Prof Brent Nongbri.

Vignette: STOLEN FRAGMENT Screen capture from 2012 CNN interview showing a papyrus fragment of Romans now known to be stolen. Image source: CNN, “Hobby Lobby president’s rare collection" (https://edition.cnn.com/videos/bestoftv/2012/01/18/nr-hobby-lobby-religi...).