High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Sana`a palimpsest is one of the oldest Qur`anic manuscripts in existence. It was found, along with many other Qur`anic and non-Qur`anic fragments, in Yemen in 1972. The manuscript is written on parchment, and comprises two layers of text (see Palimpsest). The upper text conforms to the standard `Uthmanic Qur`an, whereas the lower text contains many variants to the standard text. A radiocarbon analysis of the parchment conducted at the University of Arizona indicated that the parchment, and hence the lower text, most likely dates from within fifteen years of the death of Muhammad..