MUCH MORE ON THE DERVENI PAPYRUS from the A.P.:

Ancient scroll may yield religious secrets

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 1, 9:16 AM ET

ATHENS, Greece - A collection of charred scraps kept in a Greek museum's storerooms are all that remains of what archaeologists say is Europe's oldest surviving book — which may hold a key to understanding early monotheistic beliefs.

More than four decades after the Derveni papyrus was found in a 2,400-year-old nobleman's grave in northern Greece, researchers said Thursday they are close to uncovering new text — through high-tech digital analysis — from the blackened fragments left after the manuscript was burnt on its owner's funeral pyre.

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(Via Archaeology Magazine News.)

Also Jim Aitken e-mails:

Let me try and clarify the issue of the Derveni papyri for Plaeojudaica. The original composition is late 5th century BCE, but the papyrus itself is probably 4th or early 3rd century BCE (precise dating is not possible of course). This places it amongst one of the oldest Greek papyri there are, since we have two from the end of the fourth century and then many appearing in the third century. As you say, certainly not the oldest papyrus, but one of the oldest Greek papyri, although maybe only c. 350-300 BCE rather than the implied 5th century.