What are the dates of the Mandaean manuscripts?

Question

This is what wikipedia says about Mandaeism

The Ginza Rabba is divided into two halves—the Genzā Smālā or Left Ginza, and the Genzā Yeminā or Right Ginza. By consulting the colophons in the Left Ginza, Jorunn J. Buckley has identified an uninterrupted chain of copyists to the late second or early third century.[60] The colophons attest to the existence of the Mandaeans during the late Parthian Empire.

The oldest texts are lead amulets from about the third century CE, followed by incantation bowls from about 600 CE. The important religious texts survived in manuscripts that are not older than the sixteenth century, with most coming from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.[61] Mandaean religious texts may have been originally orally transmitted before being written down by scribes, making dating and authorship difficult Wikipedia:Mandaeism

If manuscripts are dated to the 16th century , how do we identify a chain of copyists from the 2nd century. Can we prove that the text is unredacted and older than the 16th century?

Or does this imply that although the left Ginza is from the 2nd century the rest of the text is from the right( the right Ginza has striking similarities with Islamic scripture)

I would also like to know what dating Jorunn J buckley provides for the left and right Ginza and through what kind of evidence

Thank you

Answer 1

Partial answer. Other than the first source listed below, I didn't see clear dates for the texts. This may be case where we simply don't know (possibly due to the issues listed in Iranica). I list the sources below in the hopes that they will assist someone to surpass my admittedly cursory answer.

• Scholarly community Encylopedia, "The oldest Mandaean magical text is dated to the 4th and 5th centuries CE."
• Mandean.net
• Gnosis.org
• Gnosis.org/KRudolf
• IranicaOnline - explains some of the confusion, since

Mandaeans, at times under fierce pressure from Muslim Arab, Turkish, and Persian rulers, told the Portuguese that they were true Christians, originally converted by John, the Apostle and Evangelist, who had reached Mesopotamia as a missionary, and that, allowing for their unfavorable circumstances, they had managed to remain as orthodox as possible. Some went so far as to say that in the past their “bishops” were sent to them by the patriarch of the Syrian (Nestorian) church (Wicki, p. 429).

It took decades for outsiders to comprehend that the Mandaeans were not really Christians.

• discovery.acl.uk