GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS--According to a statement released by the University of Groningen, Mladen Popović, Lambert Schomaker, and Maruf Dhali used a computer algorithm to analyze the Great Isaiah Scroll, which was discovered in Qumran Cave 1 in 1947. It had been previously suggested that the document was written by at least two scribes, but scholars had not able to detect any specific, identifying traits in the handwriting. To attempt to answer this question, Popović and his colleagues developed an algorithm to separate the ink from its background so that the curves of individual letters and the shapes of whole characters could be compared. Dhali said that the 54 columns of text in the scroll could then be divided into two groups, with the division occurring about halfway through the scroll. Further analysis of the individual letters revealed the work of two scribes, Schomaker said.

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA--Cosmos Magazine reports that Daryl Wesley of Flinders University and Mimal and Marrku Traditional Owners of the Wilton River area used machine learning to analyze changes in rock art styles in northern Australia's Arnhem Land. The computer was supplied with information of more than 1,000 types of objects and a mathematical model to determine how similar two images are to one another. The model was then applied to images of the rock art. "One amazing outcome is that the machine learning approach ordered the styles in the same chronology that archaeologists have ordered them in by inspecting which appear on top of which," said team member Jarrad Kowlessar of Flinders University. Styles of artwork that are closer to each other in age are also closer to each other in appearance, he explained.