Multi-spectral imaging of a Bactrian-Sanskrit palimpsest recovered from a Silk Road transit point has unveiled a lost 5th-century commentary. The text, attributed to a forgotten school of Skeptical Inquiry, challenges the traditional epistemological foundations of its time, advocating for a methodology of systematic doubt as a path to true wisdom.
The hidden layers of the parchment reveal arguments against the certainty of sensory perception, echoing some of the radical skepticism found in the later Charvaka and Pyrrhonist traditions. This discovery suggests a much more vibrant and diverse intellectual landscape along the Silk Road, where Indian and Hellenistic logical traditions actively blended.