The Voynich manuscript. This is what researchers call a document written in an unknown language that contains drawings of absolutely fantastic plants, as well as maps of an unfamiliar starry sky. Today, this manuscript is one of the most mysterious written artifacts ever discovered.
Scientists have been struggling to solve the mystery of the manuscript for more than a century. No one has been able to understand or explain this mysterious ancient text although there are many theories that literally cover anything from information about an alien civilization to early Medieval science fiction. However, none of them ever came close to clarifying its purpose and origin.
Everything you need to know about the Voynich manuscript
The strange manuscript first saw the light of day and gained wide publicity in 1912, when it was acquired by the antique dealer Wilfred Voynich. The document is 240 pages long and contains a wide variety of characters that no one can decipher.
Almost immediately after the document appeared, the strange language of the manuscript was subjected to careful cryptanalysis. And later, it was analyzed by the leading crackers of military codes both during the First and Second World Wars. However, none of them managed to get even a little closer to solving the content of the document.
Researchers have figured out very little. For example, the Voynich manuscript uses about 25 different characters, written from left to right. It was also found that the text was written quite freely. That means that the one who wrote it knew the language in which he wrote perfectly although this language has never appeared anywhere else in history. For now, of course.
One prevailing theory is that the book was created as a coded scientific or medical text, possibly influenced by Arabic or early Renaissance alchemical traditions. The intricate botanical drawings, while unidentifiable, resemble medieval herbals used for healing, suggesting a connection to lost or deliberately obscured knowledge.
The origin of the “book” remains a mystery to this day. However, an analysis of the carbon dating of the parchment pages shows that it was made sometime between 1404 and 1438. According to the McCrone Research Institute, Chicago, USA, the paints used in the Voynich manuscript are quite consistent with materials that were commonly used in the 1400s.
So who actually created the Voynich manuscript?
Why should we consider the possibility of extraterrestrial origin?
One of the most controversial theories is that the Voynich Manuscript is extraterrestrial in origin. Proponents of this idea argue that the strange plant illustrations resemble no known Earth species, and the text’s peculiar structure suggests a non-human mode of communication.
Let’s analyze the facts.
First, the language in which the manuscript is written is not used by anyone else on this planet.
Secondly, the document contains images of completely unknown star cards.
Thirdly, most of the plants drawn on the pages of the manuscript are not found on Earth.
Some Ufologists speculate that the manuscript could contain encoded star maps or biological data related to an alien species. This aligns with theories suggesting ancient civilizations had extraterrestrial contact, leading to lost knowledge that may have been intentionally disguised to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.
Of course, the Voynich manuscript could be the work of a common Medieval man with enviable imagination. There are great examples of writers who have created entire worlds in their books together with entire writing systems but the fact that this text is from the 15th century makes it harder to believe.
One can easily jump to the conclusion that the manuscript was created by an extraterrestrial being. Moreover, it could make an incredible fictional story. For the sake of fun, imagine that it was created by a being that was stranded on Earth.
With the absence of human technology, the extraterrestrial could not have been able to repair its ship which left him/her with no other option but to remain here. This is why it created the Voynich manuscript which holds memories of the homeworld mixed with the experiences on Earth.
Now, back to reality. Perhaps one day someone will find another artifact written in the same language or maybe an entire lost human civilization. There are countless hypotheses about the origin of the Voynich manuscript but not a single one is convincing enough to prove anything.
A few years back, a team of computer scientists researched it and claimed that it was written in either Arabic, Aramaic, or Hebrew. However, the writings must be from either a really ancient version of any of these languages or an unknown dialect. A different theory suggested that it was written in a Proto-Romance language that influenced languages like modern Spanish and Portuguese.
Other researchers propose that the text was designed as an elaborate riddle or an inside joke among Renaissance scholars, intended to perplex future generations. The mysterious language could be an early form of constructed language, similar to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Elvish or other linguistic experiments by authors.
In each case, there have been dozens of decipherment claims in the past but nobody has been able to translate anything. The mystery continues…
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Sources:
• Johnson, R. (n.d.). The Unread: The Mystery of the Voynich Manuscript.
• Kettley, S. (2019, May 15). Voynich Manuscript SOLVED: World’s most mysterious book deciphered after 600 years.
• The Voynich Manuscript: Who wrote the mystery medieval codex and what is it trying to tell us? (2020, November 26).
• Zachos, E. (2018, February 01). Did Codebreakers Crack This Mysterious Medieval Manuscript?
