Using AI to date the Dead Sea scrolls

[guy]

 

Researchers used an AI program (named Enoch) to date the Dead Sea Scrolls. Employing a combination of carbon dating and writing styles, the researchers can more accurately date the scrolls, which range between 300 and 50 BCE.

These articles discuss a new approach to dating the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered between 1946 and 1956 in the Qumran Caves. Traditionally, scholars relied on palaeography—the study of ancient handwriting—to estimate the age of individual manuscripts, but this method lacked empirical precision.

A recent project, "The Hands That Wrote the Bible," funded by the European Research Council, has combined radiocarbon dating with machine learning to improve accuracy. Researchers analyzed 24 scroll samples using a deep neural network called BiNet, which detects handwritten ink-trace patterns. They then integrated this data with carbon-14 dating to refine manuscript dating using Enoch's AI model.

This model, named after the Book of Enoch (one of the Dead Sea Scrolls), enhances accuracy to within ±30 years. The study found that the scrolls were produced between 300 and 50 BCE, bridging a previously unexplained 400-year gap in manuscript dating. This breakthrough provides a more precise timeline for the scrolls and their historical significance.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/dead-sea-scrolls-dating/

 

https://www.sci.news/archaeology/dating-ancient-manuscripts-13964.html

 

Good background video on the Dead Sea scrolls:

 

 

Edited yesterday at 03:35 PM by guy