The Oldest Siddur Found

[edu]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/172575

1200-year-old prayerbook
The Green Collection
A siddur, or Jewish prayerbook, dated to about 840 CE, is the third major find this year connecting the modern day Jewish world with the Jews' ancient historical and religious past. It was preceded by a stunning golden medallion found near the Temple Mount and the oldest known Torah scroll, found in Italy.


The Green Collection, one of the world’s largest collections of rare biblical texts and artifacts, has announced that it has identified what is likely the oldest Jewish prayer book (siddur in Hebrew) ever found, dated by both scholars and Carbon-14 tests to circa 840 C.E. The artifact may well be the earliest connection today’s practicing Jews have to the roots of their modern-day rabbinic liturgy.


The complete parchment codex is in its original binding, containing Hebrew script so archaic that it incorporates Babylonian vowel pointing (akin to Old or Middle English for the English language). That vowel pointing has led researchers to place the prayer book in the times of the Geonim (Babylonian, Talmudic leaders during the Middle Ages).


“This find is historical evidence supporting the very fulcrum of Jewish religious life,” said Dr. Jerry Pattengale, executive director of the Green Scholars Initiative, the research arm of The Green Collection. “This Hebrew prayer book helps fill the gap between the Dead Sea Scrolls and other discoveries of Jewish texts from the ninth and 10th centuries.”


The announcement by The Green Collection comes just months after scholars in Italy identified the oldest-known Torah scroll from the 12th and 13th centuries; this Jewish prayer book dates some 300-400 years earlier

[edu]

The article said:

The complete parchment codex is in its original binding, containing Hebrew script so archaic that it incorporates Babylonian vowel pointing (akin to Old or Middle English for the English language). That vowel pointing has led researchers to place the prayer book in the times of the Geonim (Babylonian, Talmudic leaders during the Middle Ages).

Does anyone have any more information to explain what was "Babylonian vowel pointing"?