Experts have deciphered an ancient manuscript, finding that it represents the earliest surviving copy of a gospel about Jesus' childhood.

The fragment of papyrus, a paper-like material used during antiquity as a writing surface, was being kept at Hamburg, Germany's Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library, but for decades it had largely gone unnoticed.

Now, a pair of researchers have determined that the ancient Greek text written on the fragment comes from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) and represents the oldest known version of it, according to a study published in the journal Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik.

The IGT is one of the "apocryphal" infancy gospels, a set of early Christian writings that are generally not considered part of the biblical canon by the religion's major denominations.