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Enoch: dating ancient manuscripts with radiocarbon and AI-based writing-style analysis

AI and ancient textsPapyrology and discoverya machine-learning date-prediction…historical
Enoch: dating ancient manuscripts with radiocarbon and AI-based writing-style analysis: a machine-learning date-prediction model for the Dead Sea Scrolls, trained on radiocarbon-dated samples, and the study that introduces it. Operator: Mladen Popović and colleagues (University of Groningen and partners), funded by the European Research Council; published in PLOS One. Its unit: a scroll's predicted date from the angular and allographic features of its handwriting. Its texts: the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Visit Enoch: dating ancient manuscripts with radiocarbon and AI-based writing-style analysis ↗Its NonWiki articleThe thesis

What it records

IntersectionsAI and ancient texts: machine reading, restoration and dating; Papyrology and textual discovery: manuscripts, editions, new finds and redatings; New Testament scholarship: dating, authorship and literary dependence
Kind of evidencemachine reading, restoration or datingphysical or radiocarbon datingpalaeographic dating
Unit of recorda scroll's predicted date from the angular and allographic features of its handwriting
Which textsthe Dead Sea Scrolls
MethodBayesian ridge regression on writing-style feature vectors, trained on 24 radiocarbon-dated samples, then applied to 135 undated scrolls
Coveragegeography: Judaean Desert; period: Hellenistic and Roman periods
What it findsEnoch predicted radiocarbon-based dates with mean absolute errors of 27.9 to 30.7 years; radiocarbon ranges and Enoch's predictions are often older than the palaeographic estimates, giving a new chronology and re-dating key texts
Its stated limitsan almost complete lack of date-bearing manuscripts; 79% alignment in palaeographic post-hoc evaluation

op the resource's own statement · 3p a third-party account · obs our observation · rd our reading. Hover a tag for its quote; each opens below with its source.

What this evidence can settle

Can answer

  • how far palaeographic dates of the scrolls move against radiocarbon anchors
  • that a style-based model can date undated manuscripts within about thirty years on this corpus

Cannot answer

  • the dates of Greek New Testament papyri (not in its corpus)
  • when any work copied on a scroll was composed

In the worked questions

Where it meets Revelation First

rd Dating: New Testament papyri are dated by palaeography alone, and this study moves palaeographic dates earlier against radiocarbon anchors. It does not date New Testament papyri; it is the method the papyrological-inversion and dating workstreams would watch.

Entity

Canonical nameEnoch: dating ancient manuscripts with radiocarbon and AI-based writing-style analysis
Also known asEnoch
Addresshttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0323185
OperatorMladen Popović and colleagues (University of Groningen and partners), funded by the European Research Council; published in PLOS One
Founded2025
Kinda machine-learning date-prediction model for the Dead Sea Scrolls, trained on radiocarbon-dated samples, and the study that introduces it
Lifecyclehistorical — a study published 4 June 2025
Count24 radiocarbon-dated samples; 135 undated scrolls dated (as of 2025-06-04)
Data accessopen-access article (PLOS One)
Licencethe article's copyright line names Popović et al. (licence text not read)
Versions and datespublished: 2025-06-04; read: 2026-10-30
Observation2026-10-30: read

Relations

Uses

Captures: the composition layer's account

NonWiki: the article, sourced

Evidenceevery field's quote, its source and the hash of the saved copy8
Negative tagswhat it is not2
  • NOT a New Testament study: Hebrew and Aramaic scrolls
  • NOT a composition date: it dates the copies
Sourcesevery source read, with its date and hash2
Not yet checkedwhat remains to read2
  • the model's code and data (not opened)
  • the scimex release (HTTP 403)

Cite this record

Lee Sharks, ed. "Enoch: dating ancient manuscripts with radiocarbon and AI-based writing-style analysis." Revelation First meta-aggregator, revelationfirst.com, compiled 2026-10-30. https://www.revelationfirst.com/aggregators/enoch-dss-dating/

Record https://www.revelationfirst.com/aggregators/enoch-dss-dating/ · entity https://www.revelationfirst.com/aggregators/enoch-dss-dating/#entity · the census as data

@misc{rf-enochdssdating2026,
  editor = {Sharks, Lee},
  title = {Enoch: dating ancient manuscripts with radiocarbon and AI-based writing-style analysis},
  howpublished = {Revelation First meta-aggregator, revelationfirst.com},
  year = {2026},
  note = {Compiled 2026-10-30; every field sourced and dated},
  url = {https://www.revelationfirst.com/aggregators/enoch-dss-dating/}
}
Editor: Lee Sharks (ORCID 0009-0000-1599-0703). This page is the Revelation First meta-aggregator's record of the resource above: its reading and fields are ours, and each field carries its source, its basis and the hash of the copy read. The resource's own terms and findings are kept as its own. Compiled 2026-10-30. CC BY 4.0.