What it is: An illuminated manuscript of the four Christian gospels, made in the ninth century Where it is from: The island of Iona in Scotland's Inner Hebrides When it was made: About 1,200 years ...

Sampling DNA From a 1,000-Year-Old Illuminated Manuscript . ... and illuminated, the book contains the four gospels of the Bible as well ... which conservationists routinely use to clean manuscripts.

To some, a title like "In the Beginning Was the Word: Medieval Gospel Illumination" evokes ideas antithetical to modernity: tradition, religion and non-reproducibility.