The Dead Sea Scrolls are over 2,000 years old and contain the oldest known texts from the Hebrew Bible. | Photo Credit: Deposit photos/boto
The AI program trained to study the handwriting style of ancient manuscripts suggests that many of the Dead Sea scrolls may be older than previously thought, as reported in studies published in journals. PLOS 1 June 4th. The study is the latest entry in a new era of ancient studies, in which researchers use AI to uncover secrets written on scuffing and crumbling scrolls.
This new method combines AI, radiocarbon dating and handwritten analysis to estimate the age of ancient texts more accurately. The currently proposed reorganization could reconstruct the scroll of death and understanding of Judaism and early Christianity, the study authors say.
“It is very exciting to set up important steps to solve the problem of death scroll dating and create new tools that can be used to study other parts of history's obsolete manuscript collections.”
Radiocarbon dating and handwritten AI analysis
The Dead Sea Scroll, first discovered in an Israeli cave in 1947, is the most important manuscript discovery of the past 100 years. There are approximately 1,000 manuscripts in the Dead Sea scroll. Among them are some of the oldest known text copies from the Hebrew Bible. The study of these manuscripts has significantly changed our understanding of the origins of Christianity and the formation of post-Bible Judaism.
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Dated with these manuscripts and rayography, an ancient handwriting study, and it has been written for hundreds of years between 250 BC and 100 BC. However, scholars struggle to analyze ancient texts. In particular, dating is less reliable, as it distinguishes one writer's style from another.
Researchers aimed to improve analytical methods by studying handwriting using AI and cross-reference this data with radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon dating estimates the age of a material by measuring carbon-14 isotopes that slowly disappear over time. “The advantages of [AI] The model provides quantified objectivity to paleo-learning and reduces the subjectivity of the method,” the authors write.
The AI model was first trained on 24 manuscripts of reliable radiocarbon dating. The authors used this AI model to analyze the handwriting styles of 135 scrolls with unknown dates spanning three centuries from the 200th century BC to 100 AD. This has given rise to a better way to date manuscripts written with 79% accuracy, according to the analysis.
“Ancient scholars believe that they are on the brink of a new era because of AI. Researchers also use AI to translate ancient texts that have plagued ancient scholars for decades.”
“This new approach was allowed [the researchers] In a joint email to Sommerschield and Assael, Thea Sommerschield and Yannis Assael, who previously developed AI tools for the study of ancient texts at the University of Oxford in the UK, said:
New Scroll of Death Chronology
The authors of this study believe that their analysis could lead to a new chronology of the scroll. If verified, it will change the history of ancient Jews and the history of those who wrote the texts.
AI analysis suggests that the manuscript is older than the entire previous estimate, suggesting dates from the early 2nd century BC, and sometimes slightly earlier. Scholars often assume that the rise and expansion of the Hasmona Kingdom from the second half of the second century BC led to an increase in the “Scribal intellectual culture of literacy.” The authors say their findings suggest that the scribes had copied multiple literary manuscripts prior to this period.
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Sommerschield and Assael say new research shows that AI can be used to provide more accurate dating of other ancient texts. “This new study shows that calculators do not reduce the role of human expertise, and reinforce it, opening new paths for discovery even in the most well-studied text,” they said in an email.
Ancient scholars believe that because of AI they are on the brink of a new era. For example, researchers are also using AI to translate ancient texts that have been bothering ancient scholars for decades.
