Dating of the Gospels (Mark in particular) and the early manuscripts with their text.

The first observation that should be made is that we do not have any of the original manuscripts of the
New Testament books. The manuscripts that were discovered are the early copies of the NT text (especially
those that were written on papyrus and parchment in special script with all capital letters). We have a big
number of manuscripts and are able to establish what was written in the original with very good precision.
Lets go through the reasoning for the dating of the Gospel of Mark as an example of how NT scholars work to
establish the date for books of the Bible.
This first statement leads to conclusion that books of the New Testament were written earlier then the
earliest date of the manuscripts that are available now. As it was stated in the question, the earliest manuscript
that include part of the Gospel of Mark is P45 that was written in the 3rd century AD.
When exactly the Gospel of Mark was written is possible to estimate tracing the quotes from this
Gospel by Apostolic Fathers and the other 2 synoptic Gospel writers (Matthew and Luke).
The first group, the Apostolic Fathers, who in fact were disciples of the 12 Apostles, later became in
charge (bishops, pastors, and elders) of the early church. One of the earliest mentioning of the Gospel of Mark
is in the writings of Papias, the bishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia of Asia Minor (until c. A.D. 130). His statement
about the Gospel of Mark was recorded by Eusebius in his Historia Ecclesiastica (History of the Church) that was
written in A.D. 324. Papias makes important statements about Marks writing his Gospel account on the basis
of the teaching of Peter in Rome. Some of the other early Christian writers who supported the tradition that
Mark wrote down the teaching of Peter are Justin Martyr (A.D. 100-165), Irenaeus (died A.D. 202), and Clement
of Alexandria (A.D. 150-215). It is known that Peter was in Rome starting from mid 50s A.D., so apparently
Mark should be writing the Gospel account after this date.
The second important group of evidence is the Gospels of Mathew and Luke who were extensively
quoting Mark. Thus, about 90% of the material in the Gospel of Mark is shared by Mathew and Luke. If we
conclude that Mark had written his Gospel account first, then it happened earlier then A.D. 70 (the date that
some scholars give for the Gospel of Matthew) and late 60s (the date that some scholars give for the Gospel of
Luke). Other scholars date Mathew and Luke in the early 60s, and Mark therefore would have to have been
written before this time.
On the basis of these two lines of reasoning (and some other evidence not listed in this brief response)
the date for writing of the Gospel of Mark is sometimes between A.D. 56 and 70.