I recently came across this explanation by prof. Larry Hurtado of how ancient papyri are dated. I liked to share it with the readers of my blog.
You may read the full report with comments at: https://larryhurtado.wordpress.com/2016/06/24/dating-ancient-papyri/
Prof. Hurtado says:
“Further to my recent posts about recent proposals for the dating of certain NT papyri, let me briefly clarify the process of dating papyri, which might well seem a mystery to those not familiar with it.
There are two main types of papyri: “documentary” (letters, official documents such as land-transfers, marriage contracts, shipping bills, etc.) and “literary” (treatises, poetry, history, fiction, etc.). Documentary texts are often/typically dated by the writer, which makes dating the manuscript fairly straightforward. But literary texts are hardly ever dated. So in their case the only way forward is by estimating the approximate time-frame of the handwriting (often referred to as the “hand” of the manuscript). Continue reading →