The European Research Council has awarded a 2.5 million euro ($2.85 million) grant to fund a five-year project using artificial intelligence (AI) to trace the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The project, called Tracing Scribes and Scrolls, will be led by Professor Mladen Popović of the University of Groningen.
It brings together Groningen, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and several European institutions to determine where the scrolls were written and copied, and how knowledge spread across ancient Judea.
Mystery of the scrolls’ origin still puzzles scholars
The Dead Sea Scrolls, among the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century, include the oldest known copies of many biblical books and other Jewish texts from the late Second Temple period. Researchers still do not know where most of the scrolls were made.
Some may have been written by a Jewish community at Qumran, while others may have come from scribal centers elsewhere in Judea, possibly Jerusalem, and later hidden in caves. Some scholars believe the caves also served as a library or genizah for aging texts.
Popović’s team includes historians, archaeologists, chemists, material scientists, and artificial intelligence specialists. Working with the Israel Antiquities Authority, researchers will study about 250 samples of parchment, papyrus, and ink.
For the first time, they will compare papyrus from Egypt directly with papyrus found at Qumran and other Judean Desert sites.
AI analysis aims to map Dead Sea Scrolls’ hidden origins
Chemical analysis is expected to show where raw materials came from and how scribal centers may have been linked. AI tools will process the data to find patterns that traditional methods miss.
Results will be combined with handwriting analysis and study of the scrolls’ physical construction, including sheet preparation, column layout, and stitching. The Israel Antiquities Authority holds more than 25,000 scroll fragments, and researchers hope to place many within a clearer historical timeline.
Popović said that the project is the greatest effort yet to use artificial intelligence in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He said that it could help answer long-standing questions about who copied the manuscripts and how knowledge moved through ancient Judea.
The work builds on his earlier project, The Hands That Wrote the Bible, which used artificial intelligence to identify scribes.
International team of scientists joins the research effort
Ilit Cohen-Ofri of the Israel Antiquities Authority said that the research will build a new database of chemical information about the scrolls.
She said that the scroll materials, including parchment, papyrus, and ink, have revealed valuable information in recent years and that the project will benefit both scholars and the public.
Other researchers include Ilaria Degano of the University of Pisa, Leila Birolo of the University of Naples Federico II, and Kaare Rasmussen and Frank Kjeldsen of the University of Southern Denmark. Maruf Dhali of Groningen will lead the artificial intelligence work.
The Egyptian Museums in Berlin, Turin, and KU Leuven in Belgium will support comparisons of Egyptian and Judean Desert papyri.
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