Latest news with #ancientmanuscripts
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The Independent
05-06-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Dead Sea Scrolls mystery deepens as AI finds manuscripts to be much older than thought
Many of the manuscripts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls may be much older than previously thought, according to a new study that could transform our understanding of their Jewish and Christian origins. The mysterious scrolls are a collection of ancient Jewish texts mainly written in Hebrew that were found in 1947 by nomadic Arab shepherds looking for a lost sheep. They are the oldest Bible texts ever found, containing passages of the Old Testament from over 1,800 to 2,000 years ago. Until now, a study of ancient handwriting suggests most of the scrolls are from the third century BC to the second century AD. Some date-bearing manuscripts written in Aramaic/Hebrew have been estimated to be from the fifth or fourth centuries BC, and the late first and early second century AD. But since most of the scrolls do not have any other date-bearing manuscripts for reference, the ages of the individual manuscripts haven't been precisely estimated. Archaeologists have yet to accurately date over a thousand manuscripts and fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls collection. Now, researchers have combined radiocarbon dating and an AI prediction model to arrive at a more accurate estimate of the age of individual manuscripts. Scientists found that two biblical scroll fragments of the scrolls come from the same time as their presumed biblical authors. These fragments have been objectively dated to between the fourth century BC and the second century AD, according to the latest study published in the journal PLOS One. In the study, scientists trained their AI date-prediction model to analyse handwritten ink-trace patterns and digitised manuscripts. The model was trained to analyse intricate geometries of the ink trace, looking into the curvature of each character's shape, helping it probe the texts beyond what traditional palaeography offered. Researchers cross-verified the AI model with texts that have already been convincingly dated. They found that it could predict the age of manuscripts just from the writing style with an uncertainty of some 30 years. Scientists then used the AI to date roughly one thousand Dead Sea manuscripts. They first made the model analyse the digitised images of 135 scrolls and let professional palaeographers evaluate the AI's predictions. It then confirmed that many Dead Sea Scrolls are much older than previously thought, transforming our understanding of the development of two ancient Jewish scripts called "Hasmonaean" and "Herodian." Scroll fragments written in these scripts could belong to the late second century BC instead of the current prevailing view of the mid-first century BC. Manuscripts in the Hasmonaean-type script could be older than their current estimate of 150 BC to 50 BC, researchers found. It still remains a mystery who exactly wrote the manuscripts. Researchers suspect it was an anonymous author from the Hellenistic period of the third century BC. The latest findings impact our understanding of political and intellectual developments in the eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods, scientists say.
The National
04-06-2025
- Science
- The National
Dead Sea Scrolls a century older than previously thought
Fragments from a collection of ancient Jewish manuscripts found on the northern shores of the Dead Sea are 100 years older than previously thought, a study found. The Dead Sea Scrolls, as they are best known, were discovered in the mid 20th century at the Qumran caves in the occupied West Bank. They include the oldest surviving manuscripts of entire books from the Bible, and for decades were generally dated from the 3rd to 2nd century BCE. But new AI technologies have allowed researchers to date some of the scrolls back to the 4th century BCE. Two of the biblical scrolls – the Book of Daniel and Ecclesiasts - are now believed to have come from the time of their presumed authors. The Book of Daniel is long believed to have been completed in the 160s BCE and Enoch's findings placed the scroll back in the same time period. The same was true for a scroll fragment of the Ecclesiastes, which is commonly assumed to have been written by an anonymous author in the 3rd century BCE. Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands developed a date-prediction programme called Enoch, which they say provides more accurate date estimates for individual manuscripts. Their findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS on Wednesday. Enoch uses AI to combine the traditional study of old handwriting with radiocarbon dating, which calculates the age of a material by measuring the amount of a specific carbon molecule in the sample. Traditionally, researchers studying ancient handwriting have been unable to more accurately date texts between 4th and 2nd century BCE, but researchers say this 'gap' has now been closed through Enoch's additional use of carbon dating. They say that the programme can predict radio carbon-based dates and handwriting style with an uncertainty of about 30 years. The work was a collaboration between historians of the ancient world and computer scientists, led by Mladen Popovic, professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism and director of the Qumran Institute and Dr Maruf Dhali, assistant professor in Artificial Intelligence. The first results showed that many of the texts were much older than previously thought. 'This also changes how researchers should interpret the development of two ancient Jewish script styles which are called 'Hasmonaean' and 'Herodian',' the researchers said. The two scripts are now believed to have existed at the same time since the second century BCE, and manuscripts in the Hasmonian script could be older than their current estimate of 150-50 BCE. 'This new chronology of the scrolls significantly impacts our understanding of political and intellectual developments in the eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods -late fourth century BCE until second century CE,' the authors said. 'It allows for new insights to be developed about literacy in ancient Judaea in relation to historical, political, and cultural developments such as urbanization, the rise of the Hasmonaean dynasty, and the rise and development of religious groups such as those behind the Dead Sea Scrolls and the early Christians,' they said.
Daily Mail
04-06-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Dead Sea Scroll breakthrough: AI analysis proves the ancient manuscripts are even OLDER than we thought
The Dead Sea Scrolls are surely among the most historically and biblically important objects known to humankind. Found in caves near the Dead Sea nearly 100 years ago, these ancient manuscripts have transformed understanding of Jewish and Christian origins. Penned upon the 1,000 scrolls were profound religious texts, hymns, prayers, legal codes, commentaries and more. Until now, the scrolls have been assumed to date somewhere between the third century BC and the first century AD. But according to a new AI analysis, some of the scrolls date back as far as the fourth century BC – nearly 2,500 years ago. While the experts only analysed about a tenth of all the Dead Sea Scrolls, they hope AI could continue to reveal more about their history. 'Often individual manuscript dates are older than previously thought,' lead study author Professor Mladen Popović at the University of Groningen told MailOnline. 'The strength and significance of the AI tool that we have developed is that it makes it possible to provide much more accurate date estimates.' First found in 1946 in the Qumran Caves of the Judaean Desert, near the Dead Sea, the scrolls comprise around 1,000 ancient manuscripts in thousands of fragments. The Dead Sea Scrolls were made of parchment from processed animal hide known as vellum, but also plant matter called papyrus and sheets of metal. The text upon them was penned in four languages – Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Nabataean (language of the ancient Arab Nabatean people). But their religious significance is largely because the scrolls include some early Hebrew texts that would go on to form part of the Old Testament of the Bible. Little has been known about the scribe or scribes who laboured to produce the individual scrolls – as the works were not signed. It is sometimes possible to determine the approximate age of undated manuscripts by evaluating handwriting – but to use this method, there needs to be enough manuscripts with accurate dates to create a reliable timeline of handwriting styles. For the study, researchers used radiocarbon dating to work out the age of historic manuscripts from various sites in modern-day Israel and the West Bank. They then then used a previously-developed AI neural network called BiNet to study the handwriting styles of each document, right down to the ink-trace patterns. How old are the Dead Sea Scrolls? Until now, the scrolls have been assumed to date somewhere between the third century BC and the first century AD. But according to the study, some of the scrolls date back as far as the fourth century BC - nearly 2,500 years ago. The ancient manuscripts that were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves near Khirbet Qumran, on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea. By pairing those two datasets together, the team could create an AI program called 'Enoch' that could use the handwriting style of other manuscripts from the region to objectively determine an approximate age range – including the Dead Sea Scrolls. To test the program, ancient handwriting experts evaluated Enoch's age estimates for 135 of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The experts determined that 79 per cent of the AI's estimates were 'realistic', while the remaining 21 per cent were determined too old, too young or indecisive. Crucially, both the AI and radiocarbon dating methods estimated older ages for many of the Dead Sea Scrolls than did traditional handwriting analysis. 'In general, the date predictions by Enoch for individual manuscripts moves within the timeframe of late fourth century BC until second century AD,' Professor Popović told MailOnline. 'But within that time frame more manuscripts are now older, being dated to the first half of the second century BC, the third century BC and in two cases even into the late fourth century BC.' Professor Popović said his team 'have not yet dated all manuscripts', so potentially more is to be learned about the overall age of the scrolls. 'There are more than 1,000 Dead Sea Scrolls so our study is a first but significant step, opening a door unto history with new possibilities for research,' he said. Until now, the dating of individual manuscripts was mostly based on 'palaeography' – the study of ancient handwriting alone. But the new study, published in the journal PLOS One, combines palaeography with AI and radiocarbon dating to get a fuller picture. Enoch also gives researchers a powerful new tool that can refine estimates for specific manuscripts, often to an accuracy of only plus or minus 50 years. The authors say: 'With the Enoch tool we have opened a new door into the ancient world, like a time machine, that allows us to study the hands that wrote the Bible. 'It is very exciting to set a significant step into solving the dating problem of the Dead Sea Scrolls and also creating a new tool that could be used to study other partially dated manuscript collections from history.' The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered between 1946 and 1956 and date back 2,000 years Discovered between 1946 and 1956, the Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient manuscripts dating back to 2,000 years ago - or more. The texts include tends of thousands of parchment and papyrus fragments and in rare cases entire manuscripts. They contain parts of what is now known as the Hebrew Bible as well as a range of extra-biblical documents. The scrolls were found by shepherd Muhammed Edh-Dhib as he searched for a stray among the limestone cliffs at Khirbet Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea in what was then British Mandate Palestine - now the West Bank. The story goes that in a cave in the dark crevice of a steep rocky hillside, Muhammed hurled a stone into the dark interior and was startled to hear the sound of breaking pots. Venturing inside, the young Bedouin found a mysterious collection of large clay jars in which he found old scrolls, some wrapped in linen and blackened with age. The texts have since been excavated by archaeologists, who are now racing to digitise their contents before they deteriorate beyond legibility. The texts are of great historical and religious significance and include the earliest known surviving copies of biblical and extra-biblical documents, as well as preserving evidence of diversity in late Second Temple Judaism.
Irish Times
21-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
The ‘Wikipedia of the age': Myths, legends and seating arrangements at the Hill of Tara in 900-year-old manuscript on public display
Every medieval society had a hierarchy and Irish society before the Anglo-Norman invasion was no different. A tantalising glimpse of that society is contained in the Book of Leinster, which is to go on public display from Wednesday for the first time since it was compiled 900 years ago. The book contains a diagram of the seating, or more accurately the benching, arrangement in the Teach Miodhchuarta, or Mead Hall, at Tara, with the king in the middle. There is no table, but there is a long spit in the centre. The guests are arranged according to rank, but the diagram shows that poets, musicians and scribes ranked the same as nobles. There is a large image of a jester, and the hierarchy of guests is completed by a detailed account of the cuts of meat – the king getting the best, of course. The 12th-century, pre-Anglo Norman invasion book, on calf vellum, will be displayed as part of the Book of Kells experience in Trinity College Dublin (TCD). READ MORE The book, written in old and middle Irish, was rescued from oblivion by Welsh scholar Edward Lhwyd, who gave it to English aristocrat Sir John Sebright, who in turn presented it to TCD along with other ancient Irish manuscripts in 1786. A page of the Book of Leinster, which is going on display in Trinity College Dublin. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill It was in a poor state, with staining resulting from techniques used by previous antiquarians. The book amounts to the 'Wikipedia of the age' for Irish scholars, according to the TCD curator of manuscripts and archives, Caoimhe Ní Ghormáin. It contains no less than the origin story of the Irish people and their language. The Lebor Gabála Érenn was an attempt by medieval scholars to trace the origins of the Irish people from the Book of Genesis to the first settlers who came from Galicia in modern Spain. The story of how Breogán built a huge tower in the city of Briganti (now A Coruña) from which his son first spotted Ireland is so important to the origin myths of Galicia that the page from the Book of Leinster mentioning his name was lent to a museum in Santiago de Compostela. 'Establishing the identity and language of the Irish people was very important at the time that the manuscript was written, which is why the text was produced,' says Ní Ghormáin. The Book of Leinster was compiled by Áed Ua Crimthainn, who was abbot of the monastery of Tír-Dá-Glas on the Shannon, now Terryglass in Co Tipperary. It includes a significant version of the famous Irish saga Táin Bó Cúailnge, or the Cattle Raid of Cooley, which is the story of the warrior Cú Chulainn. There is also an account of the siege of Troy. [ It's one of Ireland's most important prehistoric sites, but you may not have heard of it Opens in new window ] It has taken two years of conservation, funded by the Bank of America, to get the manuscript into a state that it can go on display, albeit for just three months because exposure to light will degrade the manuscript over time. Chief manuscript conservator of TCD library Dr John Gillis, who has led the project, said new vellum needed to be found and weak areas reinforced with a form of thin collagen. He is hopeful that DNA analysis will be able to locate the source of the calf vellum and give a more accurate age for the manuscript. 'It is a privilege to be working with these manuscripts. You can never escape that fact. As a manuscript, it is a unique object. There is no other copy.'
