A newly developed artificial intelligence model has led researchers to conclude that many of the Dead Sea Scrolls may be older than previously thought — potentially shifting key timelines in Jewish and early Christian history.
An international team of scholars from the Netherlands, Italy, and Denmark published their findings this week in the journal PLOS One. Central to the study was an AI-based date-prediction model named Enoch, named after the biblical patriarch known for his closeness to God.
The model uses Bayesian ridge regression applied to handwriting-style descriptors to estimate the age of manuscripts. By analyzing handwriting on the scrolls and integrating radiocarbon dating, the AI system identified many texts as being a generation older than past paleographic estimates.
Historically, scholars believed the scrolls were written between 150 and 50 B.C. But according to the Enoch model, many may date to around 200 B.C.
“Enoch’s style-based predictions are often older than traditionally assumed paleographic estimates,” the study explains, “leading to a new chronology of the scrolls and the re-dating of ancient Jewish key texts that contribute to current debates on Jewish and Christian origins.”
The researchers emphasized that their findings do not conflict with historical or paleographic data. “There are no compelling paleographic or historical reasons that preclude these older dates as reliable time markers,” they wrote.
Discovered in desert caves near the Dead Sea in the 1940s and 1950s, the Dead Sea Scrolls remain one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century. The scrolls, dating from the third century B.C. to the first century A.D., include a range of religious and legal texts that have shed light on Jewish beliefs and practices during the Second Temple period.
The new findings arrive amid a continued wave of scholarly and public interest. In 2021, Israeli archaeologists uncovered dozens of new scroll fragments. And in April of this year, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library hosted a special exhibition featuring eight ancient Jewish manuscripts as part of a broader showcase on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
With input from Fox News
