In continuation of the FWF projects The Sinaitic Sacramentary (Euchologium) Fragments and The Enigma of the Sinaitic Glagolitic Tradition, the focus of this project is the investigation of the origin and later fate of the early Glagolitic sources for the development of the Glagolitic and Old Church Slavonic traditions.
At the same time it is necessary to further study and edit all palimpsested and other hitherto inaccessible texts which have not yet been fully deciphered. The results of those examinations must be placed into their historical context to complete our picture of the cultural history of the relevant regions.
In order to achieve these objectives, humanity scholars (predominantly Slavicists), scientists (computer vision specialists, chemists, phycisists, microbiologists) and conservators are engaging in inter- and multidisciplinary cooperation employing philological and historical methods of manuscript studies, language analysis and literary criticism in combination with up-to-date relevant technologies, such as Multispectral Imaging and Document Image Analysis, material investigation via spectroscopy (with x-ray-, UV, visible, and infrared radiatons) and DNA as well as the latest preservation analyses and techniques. The interplay of the different investigations will allow important new discoveries not only for the areas in question, but also the development of new methods relevant for other disciplines such as Slavic political and church history and Byzantine-Greek philology or theology, from which the future exploration of any written heritage will benefit.