Today our iPads and smart phones make a pad of paper and pencil seem quaint. We cackle at the days of Abraham Lincoln where young pupils scratched on a piece of slate with chalk. But can you imagine books with pages made of metal? A recent find of 70 lead codices have some archaeologists drooling at what might be a major discovery of early Christian history. Given the recent trend of such discoveries turning out to be hoaxes, scientists are proceeding with caution, trying to verify their authenticity.

What could these tiny books be?

“The codices turned up five years ago in a remote cave in eastern Jordan—a region where early Christian believers may have fled after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. The codices are made up of wirebound individual pages, each roughly the size of a credit card. They contain a number of images and textual allusions to the Messiah, as well as some possible references to the crucifixion and resurrection. Some of the codices were sealed, prompting yet more breathless speculation that they could include the sealed book, shown only to the Messiah, mentioned in the Book of Revelation.”