Several years ago, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace of The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscipts revealed that a fragment of the Gospel of Mark had been found. Early investigations seemed to reveal that the manuscript may in fact be from the 1st Century AD. Many years have passed since that first announcement and many of us in the apologetics field have been waiting with baited breath on the results.
Recently, Dr. Gary Habermas of Liberty University revealed in a talk given at Purdue University that paleographical tests revealed that the fragment is believe to be dated from 80-110 AD. You can see Dr. Habermas' lecture below.
So what does this mean? If this date is correct, it means that we now have textual evidence that the Gospels we not written late (4th century) as many skeptics and popular novels have suggested and that they were most likely written within the lifetime of the eyewitnesses.
To give an idea, the apostle John was said to be a teenager during Jesus' ministry. Jesus was crucified between 29-33 AD. John was believed to have been exiled to Patmos around 90 AD. Mark is believed to have been written in Rome during the 50's AD and is believed to be one of the first Gospels written (Matthew being the other).
This would add to the historical reliability of the Gospel accounts as being true eyewitness accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It would also debunk critics who say this were all later inventions of the church.