After years of scientific scrutiny being applied to ancient relics like the Shroud of Turin (which new studies have relied on in producing the “face of Jesus”), now one of the modern era’s most enigmatic ancient documents, the Voynich Manuscript, is undergoing closer study also, as depicted in a new documentary.

The document and its content, which have riddled scholars for centuries, depicts a variety of flora and fauna, as well as many strange cultural elements and various symbolism that have been associated with everything from early attempts at botany and the study of natural herbs and remedies, to medieval magic and alchemical studies. As has been the case with many documents from this its presumed era, a handful of scholars have gone so far as to offer the somewhat blase’ theory that it was penned by a young Leonardo Davinci.

The new studies, as reported by Fortean Times, represent what are perhaps some of the closest observations performed on the manuscript since previous carbon-14 testing performed at the University of Arizona, which dated it to the early 1400s.

Voynich Under the Microscope

Although this date range is one in which carbon dating is particularly accurate, lending to a 95% accuracy rate, the presence of things like a Zodiac within the document, which indicates it was penned sometime during or after the 12th century, provide other clues to its origins (To view several detailed image scans of the Voynich document, click here). Now, based on information provided in a new documentary, recent forensic analysis is being credited with helping unlock at least a few of the strange document’s mysteries; with this new data, will new mysteries also begin to surface?

A new documentary produced by the European ORF company, whose website states they specialize in “factual programs on topics such as current affairs, sociological topics, science, arts, (and) religion,” has done the most recent presentation on the Voynich Manuscript. In it, however, are some concerning elements, as pointed out by Fortean Times blogger Barbara Barrett:

For example, in one corner of one fold-out page – a page filled with marvellous witches’ hats and Persian domed towers and bridges among other wonders – sits a tiny castle (right) with swallowtail merlons (a style of battlement crenell­ation). On that detail alone, the ORF documentary (in agreement with Voynich­ologists, who originated the idea) declared that the manuscript probably originated in northern Italy where such merlons are common. However, this ignores the fact that they are also common in Sicily in the same era, as well as in 14th-century Russia.

Will any new analysis, particularly that of the forensic variety, indeed provide new details about the origins of this strange manuscript, or will its authenticity–much like the Shroud of Turin–continue to be debated for years to come?