Artificial intelligence unlocks a new secret of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Technology has enabled new insight into ancient documents that have fascinated and often mystified scholars of Jewish and religious history since their discovery around 70 years ago. Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands used artificial intelligence to analyze the longest text of the Dead Sea Scrolls, running at 24 feet long and consuming 17 pieces of parchment. The Great Isaiah Scroll, according to the newly published research, was written by two scribes with very similar handwriting, not one author as previously thought. The Groningen study notes that those previous explanations of authorship were based on educated guesses. "We will never know their names," Mladen Popovic, one of the authors of the study, said in a statement.