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Tag Archives: qumran
New Radiocarbon Analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls
An important new study of the Dead Sea Scrolls has just been published (open access!) in the journal PLOS One: Mladen Popović et al., “Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis,” PLOS One 2025. In some ways, … Continue reading
Posted in Dead Sea Scrolls, Frank Moore Cross, Palaeography, Radiocarbon analysis
Tagged archaeology, books, Dead Sea Scrolls, history, qumran, Radiocarbon analysis
8 Comments
The So-called Scriptorium at Bu Njem
It is common for historians of ancient Rome to state that writers did not use desks (As Theodor Birt put it, “In antiquity, people did not write on desks”). I have noted before on the blog that I am not … Continue reading
Posted in desks, Ostraca, Scriptoria
Tagged Bu Njem, desks, manuscripts, qumran, Roman Libya, Scriptoria, Scriptorium
4 Comments
The Lying Pen of Scribes Project: An Appreciation
Over the last few years, I have had a number of occasions to mention The Lying Pen of Scribes, a project on the Dead Sea Scrolls funded by the Research Council of Norway. In fact, it may not be quite … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities Market, Archaeological context, Dead Sea Scrolls, Fakes and Forgeries
Tagged archaeology, Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, history, qumran
2 Comments
Photos from the 1950 Duke Exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Thanks to Alexander Schick for pointing out the digitization of photos in the Duke University Archives related to the exhibition at Duke of the Dead Sea Scrolls that were in the possession of Mar Samuel in 1950. There are some … Continue reading
The Earliest Photo of the Man Who Discovered the First Dead Sea Scrolls?
When I was looking into the history of the Dead Sea Scrolls that are said to have been found in Cave 1Q a few years ago, I became interested in the early surviving videos and photographs of the scrolls and … Continue reading
Posted in Dead Sea Scrolls
Tagged archaeology, Dead Sea Scrolls, history, israel, qumran, qumran-cave-1q
3 Comments
Better Images of the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Vatican
I mentioned in a post in 2021 that the Vatican Museum had on display two small fragments of animal hide with Hebrew letters that are identified as “inscribed fragments of Qumran scrolls.” They were donated in 2001 from the personal … Continue reading
The Dead Sea Scrolls of New Jersey
It is well known that a few of the best preserved Dead Sea Scrolls spent some time in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. The Syrian Archbishop Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel brought four scrolls to the US in … Continue reading
Posted in Antiquities Market, Archaeological context, Dead Sea Scrolls
Tagged Dead Sea Scrolls, qumran, Qumran Cave 1Q
4 Comments
Variant Readings 