In a groundbreaking study published in PLOS One, an international team has revolutionized our understanding of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Using a combination of artificial intelligence and radiocarbon dating, researchers have pushed back the timeline of these ancient texts, revealing a closer connection to the era of the biblical authors.
The research, involving the University of Pisa, the University of Groningen, and the University of Southern Denmark, analyzed 135 scrolls. The findings indicate that many manuscripts are far older than previously believed. For example, manuscripts in the Hasmonean script, traditionally dated to 150-50 BC, now appear to predate the mid-2nd century BC, possibly even reaching the late 3rd century BC.
This study also identified fragments of the Book of Daniel and Ecclesiastes dating back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, respectively. This timeframe aligns with the presumed period of the anonymous authors of the biblical texts, offering tangible evidence for scholars studying the origins and transmission of the Bible. "Our task was to ensure that the materials sent for dating were as clean as possible and free of residues that could alter the results," explains Professor Ilaria Degano of the University of Pisa.
The team from Pisa developed innovative protocols to remove contaminants, such as residues from old restorations, which could skew radiocarbon dating accuracy. This approach, highly innovative, can be used in the future on other ancient manuscripts, offering an advanced standard for preparing samples for radiometric dating. The chemical-physical data obtained was crucial for training Enoch, a new predictive model based on machine learning, capable of estimating the age of manuscripts from images of the writings.
Enoch, developed at the University of Groningen, uses BiNet, a deep neural network designed to analyze ink traces and the morphology of handwritten characters. Validated through radiocarbon dating, the algorithm achieved unprecedented precision, with an uncertainty margin of approximately +/- 30 years, less than that of the radiometric techniques themselves in the period considered. This discovery not only rewrites the history books but also opens new avenues for understanding the origins of religious texts.