# Key questions

> The key questions at the heart of each mystery, with every question under them and where each one stands.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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# Questions

Each question asks one thing about a mystery that evidence could settle. Key questions are the ones at the heart of a mystery; every other question helps answer one of them.

**23** questions**3** answered**5** with no evidence yet

 All mysteries

![Voynich Manuscript](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/78r)

**Voynich Manuscript** 5 key questions · 23 questions · 3 answered

[Open the mystery](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript)

Question and its answers most likelystill possibleruled outon a key question: each question under itWhere it stands

Key[What is the object, and who made it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JFXN6R2VQ6/what-is-the-object-and-who-made-it)

Partly answered3 of 5 questions under it answered

[When was the parchment made?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JFY3VG0S0J/when-was-the-parchment-made)

Answered1404–1438, by radiocarbon

[What order were the leaves in?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JFYJG87ZFD/what-order-were-the-leaves-in)

AnsweredThe sheet is the unit of composition

[How many scribes wrote it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JFZ1503NFG/how-many-scribes-wrote-it)

AnsweredFive, by their letterforms

[Where was it made, and in what milieu?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JFZFSR4N4A/where-was-it-made-and-in-what-milieu)

No evidence yetNo answers yet

[Are there records outside the text?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JFZYEG65Q4/are-there-records-outside-the-text)

No evidence yetNo answers yet

Key[What kind of text is it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG1S1G6D9T/what-kind-of-text-is-it)

Most likelyA notation or memory system

[Is it a natural language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG27P80HMJ/is-it-a-natural-language)

Partly answered5 of 6 answers ruled out

[Is it a cipher of a known language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG2PB04SQP/is-it-a-cipher-of-a-known-language)

Partly answered9 of 10 answers ruled out

[Is it meaningless text from a procedure?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG34ZR1MPK/is-it-meaningless-text-from-a-procedure)

Open1 answer, none ahead

[Is it a constructed or notational language?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG3KMG29DW/is-it-a-constructed-or-notational-language)

Open1 answer, none ahead

[Is it a list, index or shorthand?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG42980WJ9/is-it-a-list-index-or-shorthand)

Partly answered1 of 2 answers ruled out

Key[How was the text produced on the page?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG6BH02GE7/how-was-the-text-produced-on-the-page)

Most likelyThe line is a unit of the system

[What procedure reproduces its statistics?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG6T5R6RRQ/what-procedure-reproduces-its-statistics)

Most likelyEach scribe ran the procedure in his own way

[What did the line and page add?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JG78TG4W5X/what-did-the-line-and-page-add)

Most likely-m is a line-final form of -in / -n

[Why do spellings change at the end of a line?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST0D8K275R7MNB/why-do-spellings-change-at-the-end-of-a-line)

Most likely-m is a line-final form of -in / -n

Key[What is the book about?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JGAY0G20KQ/what-is-the-book-about)

No evidence yetNo answers yet

[What do the illustrations show?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JGBCN851BR/what-do-the-illustrations-show)

Most likelyEach herbal page opens with its plant's name

[How do text and pictures relate?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JGBVA05HF4/how-do-text-and-pictures-relate)

Most likelyEach herbal page opens with its plant's name

[Who would have made and used it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JGC9YR02C0/who-would-have-made-and-used-it)

Open6 answers, none ahead

Key[Can any of it be read?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JGFGG00CY7/can-any-of-it-be-read)

No evidence yetNo answers yet

[Does any reading survive held-out pages?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JGFZ4R3FQM/does-any-reading-survive-held-out-pages)

No evidence yetNo answers yet

[Do earlier readings survive the evidence?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/voynich-manuscript/questions/QST08JGGDSG1RR0/do-earlier-readings-survive-the-evidence)

Most likelyA gallows glyph (t/k, Currier P/F) opens each entry as a discourse particle