Test film for Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis

This film is associated with the following article:
Title: Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis
Authors: Mladen Popović, Maruf A. Dhali, Lambert Schomaker, Johannes van der Plicht, Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Jacopo La Nasa, Ilaria Degano, Maria Perla Colombini, and Eibert Tigchelaar
(under review)

This film is made for the ERC project:
The Hands that Wrote the Bible: Digital Palaeography and Scribal Culture of the Dead Sea Scrolls
PI: Mladen Popović
Grant agreement ID: 640497
Project website: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/640497
Videographer: https://videobrouwers.nl/

Copyright (c)     University of Groningen, 2023. All rights reserved.
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1) permission is hereby granted to use the video for research purposes. It is not allowed to distribute this video for commercial purposes.

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4) the user should refer to the first public article mentioned above in this video.

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Film description:
A test was conducted on 6 July 2021. The test consisted of giving unseen ¹⁴C results to the AI experts to see whether Enoch (date prediction model) would give date prediction estimates that match the ¹⁴C results. However, at the start of the test, it was unknown to the AI experts that the samples were chosen because ¹⁴C results were available for them. The ¹⁴C results were taken from the 1990s ¹⁴C dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls [1,2]. The assumption was that the manuscripts chosen were not contaminated with castor oil as these manuscripts were not handled by the original team of editors in the 1950s [3,4,5]. This applies to 1QIsa^a, 1QpHab, 1QapGen, 1QS, 1QH^a, 11Q19, Mas1l. Two more manuscripts were added for other reasons. 4Q53 was added because scholars assume that it was written by the same scribe as 1QS. 4Q319 was added because it is actually the same manuscript as 4Q259 [6], which was subjected to ¹⁴C dating by our own project. The test was filmed. The film captures the whole process that was conducted in one go.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with us:
Mladen Popović <m.popovic(at)rug.nl>
Maruf A. Dhali <m.a.dhali(at)rug.nl>
Lambert Schomaker <l.r.b.schomaker(at)rug.nl>

References:
1.Bonani, G., Ivy, S., Wölfli, W., Broshi, M., Carmi, I., & Strugnell, J. (1992). Radiocarbon dating of fourteen Dead Sea scrolls. Radiocarbon, 34(3), 843-849.
2. Jull, A. T., Donahue, D. J., Broshi, M., & Tov, E. (1995). Radiocarbon dating of scrolls and linen fragments from the Judean desert. Radiocarbon, 37(1), 11-19.
3. Doudna, G., Flint, P. W., & VanderKam, J. C. (1998). Dating the Scrolls on the basis of radiocarbon analysis. The Dead Sea scrolls after fifty years. A comprehensive assessment. Volume one, 1, 430-471.
4. Carmi, I. (2002). Are the 14C dates of the Dead Sea Scrolls affected by castor oil contamination? Radiocarbon, 44(1), 213-216.
5. Rasmussen, K. L., van der Plicht, J., Doudna, G., Nielsen, F., Højrup, P., Stenby, E. H., & Pedersen, C. T. (2009). The effects of possible contamination on the radiocarbon dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls II: empirical methods to remove castor oil and suggestions for redating. Radiocarbon, 51(3), 1005-1022.
6. Hempel, C. (2020). The Community Rules from Qumran: A Commentary (Vol. 183). Mohr Siebeck.