How Science Survived: Medieval Manuscripts' "Demography" and Classic Texts' Extinction
John L. Cisne
Determining what fraction of texts and manuscripts have survived from Antiquity the Middle Ages has been highly problematic. Analyzing transmission as "paleodemography" their yields definite surprisingly high estimates. Parchment copies foremost medieval textbooks on arithmetical calendrical calculation closely fit age distributions expected for populations with logistic growth exponential survivorship. The estimated half-lives agree Bischoff's paleographically based suggestion that roughly one in seven survive some form ninth-century Carolingian workshops. On this basis, many if not most leading technical titles circulating Latin probably survived, even late Antiquity.
Science|PubMed