BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Can AI Date the Dead Sea Scrolls?

Scholars debate results of new scroll study

The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Great Psalms Scroll (11Q5) from Qumran. Photograph: the Israel Antiquities Authority 1993; photographer not named., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

First discovered in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the most important collections of ancient texts ever found in the lands of the Bible. Despite decades of research, however, scroll scholars still struggle to conclusively answer some basic questions, such as when exactly the scrolls were written. Publishing in the journal PLOS One, an international research team proposes a new method for dating individual scrolls using artificial intelligence. According to the team, this analysis reveals that many of the scrolls are likely older than previously thought. However, not all scholars are convinced.

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Enoch and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The question of when individual Dead Sea Scrolls were written has a significant impact on our understanding of the Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, and the evolution of ancient biblical scripts. The absence of references to datable events in most of the scrolls, however, has traditionally meant that scholars relied on paleographic analysis (the study of the shapes of letters) to date the scrolls, although in recent decades, radiocarbon (carbon-14) dating has increasingly been relied upon as well.

In search of a more precise method to date the scrolls, the researchers created an artificial intelligence (AI) model, which they dubbed “Enoch.” Enoch examines the shapes of letters from the scrolls and cross-references the writing style with scrolls of similar style that have been dated with carbon-14 dating. In effect, the model performs its own comparative paleographic analysis. Based on this analysis, Enoch then proposes the most likely dating for the writing of a scroll.

Cave Four at Qumran where hundreds of Dead Sea Scrolls were found. Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.

To train their model, the researchers performed radiocarbon analysis on two dozen scrolls, from four different sites in the Judean Desert. They then provided Enoch with numerous photos of each scroll and told the model which letter features to consider indicative of style. Using this data, Enoch combined the radiocarbon dates with the information about letter style to create a timeline of the evolution of letter shapes, which could be cross-referenced with new scrolls to assign them a date range when they were most likely written.

Once the model was trained to date the letters, the researchers used Enoch to analyze the script of more than 130 other scrolls. According to the team, the results were staggering. Nearly all dates proposed by Enoch were significantly older than previous estimates. Notably, several texts commonly associated with the Qumran community were dated earlier than the site’s first period of settlement, showing that the scrolls must have originated elsewhere. The study also suggested that several biblical scrolls may date earlier than previously suggested. As stated by the team in their article, “The results of this study thus dismantle unsubstantiated historical suppositions and chronological limitations, and call into question the validity of the default model’s relative typology.”

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Scholars Debate the Findings

Despite the team’s remarkable findings, many scholars are more hesitant in their conclusions, with some pointing out that many of Enoch’s results are far less groundbreaking than they appear. “The results of this study are very interesting, and presumably important, but not earth-shattering,” Christopher Rollston, a professor of biblical and Near Eastern languages at George Washington University, told Bible History Daily. “Most of the conclusions of the study dovetail with what the great paleographers in the field, such as the late Frank Moore Cross, had already stated more than 60 years ago.”

Some scholars, such as Jonathan Ben-Dov, an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls from Tel Aviv University, view this as a positive development. “If anything, I think [the researchers’] work drew our attention to points we would have otherwise missed,” he told Bible History Daily. Ben-Dov specifically pointed to Enoch’s dating of 4Q52 and 4Q70, copies of the books of Samuel and Jeremiah, which both Enoch and earlier C-14 and paleography date to the early third century BCE or even earlier. “This is important evidence about the scripture scrolls and their character in the pre-Hasmonean period.”

Reproductions of scroll jars found at Qumran. Megan Sauter, BAS.

Yonatan Adler, an expert on the archaeology and history of early Judaism at Ariel University, was even more enthusiastic about Enoch’s potential. “This is a way to move forward,” said Adler. “Too often, scholars take these texts that have been around for years and simply regurgitate the same talking points in different ways. Here, there is an attempt to actually procure new data.”

However, as Rollston points out, some of Enoch’s proposed dates are demonstrably too high based on the available historical and textual evidence. For example, Rollston said, “Enoch’s calibrated date range for 4Q114 is: 230–160 BCE. This manuscript contains portions of Daniel 8–11. Chapters 7–12 of Daniel reference the desecration of the Jerusalem Temple by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175–164 BCE), something which occurred in 167 BCE. Therefore, it has been recognized for centuries that this block of Daniel cannot be dated prior to 167. This has been known all the way back to the Neo-Platonic Philosopher Porphyry, who lived in the third century CE. Thus, in this particular case, which is the one case where we can really fact-check Enoch, it is crystal clear that Enoch’s dates are much too high.”

But this argument against Enoch’s AI model is not shared by all. “If the reason why scholars critique the results is that it doesn’t necessarily fit in with what they have always thought about dating, then that is not a good critique,” said Adler, who is quick to point out that even if the results are not necessarily correct, they still need to be evaluated seriously. “Moving forward, this study will need to be judged through a joint effort that will be no less collaborative and no less interdisciplinary than the one that conducted the research in the first place.”

Although responses to the results of Enoch were quite mixed, scholars emphasize the need for future work on the model and additional research by the scholarly community to evaluate its findings. Yet, they likewise express hope in the future potential of such a tool. For now, Ben-Dov provides a poignant statement: “Overall, the scholarly community faces a serious question: Is this study reliable enough to substantiate a re-shuffle of the entire chronological paradigm of Qumran?”

Related reading in Bible History Daily

What Are the Dead Sea Scrolls?

Dead Sea Scrolls History: Looking Back on the Last 75 Years

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament

All-Access members, read more in the BAS Library

How the Dead Sea Scrolls Were Found

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity: Part One

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Early Christianity: Part Two