While the earliest surviving Qur’an manuscripts, from the second half of the seventh century, were written in a simple form of the Arabic script that lacks symbols for short vowels and certain consonants, scribes of the eighth and ninth centuries gradually introduced a system to mark these letter sounds. In this ninth-century double page, colored dots indicate different short vowels, while minute strokes distinguish between consonants of the same basic shape, helping to ensure an accurate recitation of the scripture. Gold medallions were also added to the calligraphy to indicate the ends of a verse or verse clusters, perhaps allowing readers to locate specific passages or keep track of which parts of the text they had covered.