Table of Contents
Voynich Talk revisits the claim that one plant drawing is a sunflower, and that this New World flower pulls the book to after contact with the Americas. The earliest printed European picture of that flower is from 1568, so a real sunflower in an older book would be a problem. A 2009 radiocarbon test puts the parchment in the early fifteenth century, about 1404 to 1438. Hugh O’Neill’s reading was taken seriously anyway, and one later theory held that the book was forged around 1600 for sale to an emperor. The holding library, the video says, still repeats the sunflower in old catalog wording. The host finds a generic root, leaves that do not match, and a head closer to a cereal ear. Matching these drawings to one living species, he argues, means ignoring half the picture. Nothing on the page indicates a sunflower, so one confident identification sent researchers the wrong way for about fifty years.
Key points
- A sunflower identification was used to pull the manuscript into the era after contact with the Americas.
- Radiocarbon results place the parchment in the early fifteenth century, before that flower was drawn in Europe.
- O’Neill’s reading was still taken seriously, and a later theory called the book a forgery made to sell around 1600.
- Catalog text at the holding library is said to keep the sunflower claim alive.
- The host reads the drawing as closer to a cereal plant than to a sunflower.
- He concludes that one overconfident plant identification misdirected researchers for about half a century.
Short quotes
I have already mentioned the second turning point, the 2009 radiocarbon dating which placed the manuscript firmly in the early 15th century.
Voynich Talk, O'Neill's Voynich sunflower
The carbon date is the fact he sets against a New World sunflower. Watch at 2:04
Remember that the radiocarbon dating points to a range of 1404 to 1438.
Voynich Talk, O'Neill's Voynich sunflower
He keeps the carbon window tight, early in the fifteenth century. Watch at 4:52
Trying to match one of these herbal illustrations to a single real world plant species is almost always a stretch.
Voynich Talk, O'Neill's Voynich sunflower
One drawing, he says, rarely belongs to one living species. Watch at 7:01
I think the leaves really seem to reference some type of cereal crop.
Voynich Talk, O'Neill's Voynich sunflower
The leaves, in his view, point toward grain rather than a sunflower. Watch at 13:42
In summary, nothing about this drawing is indicative of a sunflower.
Voynich Talk, O'Neill's Voynich sunflower
His conclusion is that the famous folio simply is not that flower. Watch at 16:14
Video by Voynich Talk. Watch on YouTube.