There is a great lack of documents before the 6-7th century.
Is there a change that "new" old documents from that of an even earlier period will be found, or are all documents probably already found? Are there documents still to be transcripted?
Maybe a strange question but I always wonder if new discoveries are likely.

Best regards,

André Sijnesael
The Netherlands

On Friday, May 13, 2022 at 5:08:02 AM UTC-4, André Sijnesael wrote:
> There is a great lack of documents before the 6-7th century.
> Is there a change that "new" old documents from that of an even earlier period will be found, or are all documents probably already found? Are there documents still to be transcripted?
> Maybe a strange question but I always wonder if new discoveries are likely.

The chances of discovering a genealogically relevant document from antiquity is a once in a lifetime (or less frequently) discovery. Most of the good source material, even from the early medieval period, exists only because it was copied and recopied. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle was written in the 9th century, but the oldest surviving copy is from the 11th century.

Many documents were written in wax or wood and would have little chance to survive. A monument engraving, a coin, a stray word are more frequent discoveries, but don't tend to have significant genealogical relevance.

See one recent discovery here of a contemporary document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomberg_tablets

Papyrus is more durable, but still not likely to survive if it remains buried in dirt for 1500 years.. and even when found, they are more likely to be something mundane like a shopping list: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251788
--Joe C

On Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 8:31:52 AM UTC-4, joe...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Friday, May 13, 2022 at 5:08:02 AM UTC-4, André Sijnesael wrote:
> > There is a great lack of documents before the 6-7th century.
> > Is there a change that "new" old documents from that of an even earlier period will be found, or are all documents probably already found? Are there documents still to be transcripted?
> > Maybe a strange question but I always wonder if new discoveries are likely.
> The chances of discovering a genealogically relevant document from antiquity is a once in a lifetime (or less frequently) discovery. Most of the good source material, even from the early medieval period, exists only because it was copied and recopied. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle was written in the 9th century, but the oldest surviving copy is from the 11th century.
>
> Many documents were written in wax or wood and would have little chance to survive. A monument engraving, a coin, a stray word are more frequent discoveries, but don't tend to have significant genealogical relevance.
>
> See one recent discovery here of a contemporary document: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloomberg_tablets
>
> Papyrus is more durable, but still not likely to survive if it remains buried in dirt for 1500 years.. and even when found, they are more likely to be something mundane like a shopping list: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/251788
> --Joe C
Joe, thank you for this informative post...it's fascinating. And it's no surprise that the humble-but-marvelous garbanzo bean has stood the test of time; it's always on my shopping list.

On Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 5:31:52 AM UTC-7, joe...@gmail.com wrote:
> The chances of discovering a genealogically relevant document from antiquity is a once in a lifetime (or less frequently) discovery. Most of the good source material, even from the early medieval period, exists only because it was copied and recopied.
>
.. . . or outright forged.

> Many documents were written in wax or wood and would have little chance to survive. A monument engraving, a coin, a stray word are more frequent discoveries, but don't tend to have significant genealogical relevance.
>

It is actually not uncommon for a genealogical heiroglyphic inscription to be found, but these often refer to the families of administrators or priests with no known connection to historical lineages. These come from a mix of novel tomb discoveries, and the large amount of known but as yet undeciphered material. Nonetheless, there is still the occasional minor genealogical detail about one of the the ruling families.

One area where there have been numerous genealogical discoveries of late is with the Central American dynasties of antiquity - their written language was only cracked relatively recently, so we are starting at ground zero building the timelines and dynasties, and there are hundreds of monuments that haven't even been transcribed yet, let alone translated, and a good number of those newly translated include genealogical details.

> Papyrus is more durable, but still not likely to survive if it remains buried in dirt for 1500 years.. and even when found, they are more likely to be something mundane like a shopping list:
>

Papyrus is not infrequently found, usually within vessels that were themselves buried or placed within dry tombs (or in the Levant, in caves), but as you say almost all of it is not genealogically relevant. There are also occasional discoveries of cuneiform tablets, but like the papyrus, it is usually mundane - school lessons, inventories, property boundary descriptions, etc.

taf

Op zaterdag 14 mei 2022 om 18:22:36 UTC+2 schreef taf:
> On Saturday, May 14, 2022 at 5:31:52 AM UTC-7, joe...@gmail.com wrote:
> > The chances of discovering a genealogically relevant document from antiquity is a once in a lifetime (or less frequently) discovery. Most of the good source material, even from the early medieval period, exists only because it was copied and recopied.
> >
> . . . or outright forged.
> > Many documents were written in wax or wood and would have little chance to survive. A monument engraving, a coin, a stray word are more frequent discoveries, but don't tend to have significant genealogical relevance.
> >
> It is actually not uncommon for a genealogical heiroglyphic inscription to be found, but these often refer to the families of administrators or priests with no known connection to historical lineages. These come from a mix of novel tomb discoveries, and the large amount of known but as yet undeciphered material. Nonetheless, there is still the occasional minor genealogical detail about one of the the ruling families.
>
> One area where there have been numerous genealogical discoveries of late is with the Central American dynasties of antiquity - their written language was only cracked relatively recently, so we are starting at ground zero building the timelines and dynasties, and there are hundreds of monuments that haven't even been transcribed yet, let alone translated, and a good number of those newly translated include genealogical details.
> > Papyrus is more durable, but still not likely to survive if it remains buried in dirt for 1500 years.. and even when found, they are more likely to be something mundane like a shopping list:
> >
> Papyrus is not infrequently found, usually within vessels that were themselves buried or placed within dry tombs (or in the Levant, in caves), but as you say almost all of it is not genealogically relevant. There are also occasional discoveries of cuneiform tablets, but like the papyrus, it is usually mundane - school lessons, inventories, property boundary descriptions, etc.
>
> taf
Thank you all for your answers!

Best regards,

André Sijnesael
Spijkenisse, The Netherlands.