Answer · Dead Sea Scrolls: dating, scribes and provenance

Enoch dates manuscripts to within about 30 years, comparable to radiocarbon, and can replace palaeographic…

Enoch dates manuscripts to within about 30 years, comparable to radiocarbon, and can replace palaeographic estimates where no radiocarbon date exists.

Most likelyAnswers 1 questionPublished0

Where it stands

Most likelyIts tests partly supported it: two pieces of evidence for, none against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

What it predicts

On new radiocarbon dates not used in training, Enoch's errors stay near 30 years.

What would rule it out

On a new held-out radiocarbon set, Enoch's errors are much larger than its reported mean absolute error.

Evidence 2 for · none against

Mean absolute error 27.9 to 30.7 years; 85 per cent overlap with radiocarbon on 13 unseen test images.

Supported

FOR

Palaeographers judged 107 of 135 predictions realistic (79 per cent).

Suggestive

FOR

The questions it answers

Can the Enoch model date undated manuscripts reliably from handwriting alone?

Part of Is the traditional palaeographic chronology of the scrolls broadly right, or are many manuscripts substantially older?

Most likelyEnoch dates manuscripts to within about 30 years, comparable to radiocarbon, and can replace palaeographic…

Cite it

Mysteries Department. (2026). Enoch dates manuscripts to within about 30 years, comparable to radiocarbon, and can replace palaeographic… [Answer ANS0D484S0Y60DV]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0D484S0Y60DV

@misc{mysteriesdept_ans0d484s0y60dv,
  title     = {Enoch dates manuscripts to within about 30 years, comparable to radiocarbon, and can replace palaeographic…},
  author    = {{Mysteries Department}},
  year      = {2026},
  note      = {Answer, catalog key ANS0D484S0Y60DV},
  url       = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0D484S0Y60DV}
}