Some of the pages are missing, possibly because of a theft in the 11th century, but it is remarkably complete for a text that is so old. The Book of Kells is a large illuminated manuscript — a ...

Some of these illuminated manuscripts were embellished with luxurious ... such a valuable pigment so early and in the mouth of an 11th century woman in rural Germany is unprecedented.

were radiocarbon-dated to the 10th and 11th centuries. Other ruled out theories include pigment transfer from the kissing of illuminated manuscripts, but the practice was not common until some ...