Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T18:23:16.544Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Radiocarbon Dating of Fourteen Dead Sea Scrolls

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Georges Bonani ,
Susan Ivy ,
Willy Wölfli ,
Magen Broshi ,
Israel Carmi  and
John Strugnell
Georges Bonani
Affiliation:
Institut für Mittelenergiephysik, ETH-Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
Susan Ivy
Affiliation:
Institut für Mittelenergiephysik, ETH-Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
Willy Wölfli
Affiliation:
Institut für Mittelenergiephysik, ETH-Hönggerberg, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland
Magen Broshi
Affiliation:
Israel Museum, 9710 Jerusalem, Israel
Israel Carmi
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Sciences and Energy Research, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel
John Strugnell
Affiliation:
Divinity School, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138 USA
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The name Dead Sea Scrolls refers to some 1200 manuscripts found in caves in the hills on the western shore of the Dead Sea during the last 45 years. They range in size from small fragments to complete books from the holy scriptures (the Old Testament). The manuscripts also include uncanonized sectarian books, letters and commercial documents, written on papyrus and parchment. In only a few cases, direct information on the date of writing was found in the scrolls. In all other cases, the dating is based on indirect archaeological and paleographical evidence. To check this evidence, radiocarbon ages of 14 selected scrolls were determined using accelerator mass spectrometry. The calibrated radiocarbon ages agree well, except in one case, with the paleographic estimates or the specific dates noted on the scrolls.

Type
V. Archaeological Applications
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 34 , Issue 3: Proceedings of the 14th International Radiocarbon Conference , 1992 , pp. 843 - 849
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

References

Avigad, N. 1958 The palaeography of the Dead Sea Scrolls and related documents. In Rabin, C. and Yadin, Y., eds., Aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls (=Scripta Hierosolymitana IV). Magnes Press: 56–87.Google Scholar
Benoit, P., Milik, J. T. and de Vaux, R. 1961 Discoveries in the Judaen Desert, II. Oxford, Oxford University Press: 93–95.Google Scholar
Birnbaum, S. A. 1971 The Hebrew Scripts. Leiden, Paleographic: 127 p.Google Scholar
Bonani, G., Beer, J., Hofmann, H-J, Synal, H-A, Wölfli, W., Pfleiderer, C., Kromer, B., Junghaus, C. and Münnich, K. O. 1987 Fractionation, precision and accuracy in 14C and 13C measurements. In Gove, H. E., Litherland, A. E. and Elmore, D., eds., Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods B29: 87–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonani, G., Broshi, M., Carmi, I., Ivy, S., Strugnell, J. and Wölfli, W. 1991 Radiocarbon dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls. 'Atiqot XX: 27–32.Google Scholar
Broshi, M. 1990 The Dead Sea Scrolls discovery and identification. Israel Museum Journal 9: 31–41.Google Scholar
Cross, F. M. 1961 The development of the Jewish scripts in the Bible and the ancient Near East, In Wright, G. E., ed., The Bible and the Ancient Near East. London, Routledge and Kegan Paul: 133–202.Google Scholar
Damon, P. E., Donahue, D. J., Gore, B. H., Hatheway, A. L., Jull, A. J. T., Linick, T. W., Sercel, P. J., Toolin, L. J., Bronk, C. R., Hall, E. T., Hedges, R. E. M., Housley, R., Law, I. A., Perry, C., Bonani, G., Trumbore, S., Wölfli, W., Ambers, J. C., Bowman, S. G. E., Leese, M. N. and Tite, M. S. 1989 Dating of the Shroud of Turin. Nature 337: 611–615.Google Scholar
Eisenman, R. 1983 Maccabees, Zadokites, Christians and Qumran. Leiden, Brill: 29–31.Google Scholar
Libby, W. F. 1951 Radiocarbon dates II. Science 114: 291–296.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Milik, J. T. 1959 Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judea. London, SCM Press: 73 p.Google Scholar
Niklaus, T., Bonani, G., Simonius, M., Suter, M. and Wölfli, W. 1992 CalibETH: An interactive computer program for the calibration of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon, this issue.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M. and Polach, H. A. 1977 Discussion: Reporting of 14C data. Radiocarbon 19(3): 355–363.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. and Pearson, G. W. 1986 High-precision calibration of the radiocarbon time scale, AD 1950–500 bc. In Stuiver, M. and Kra, R. S., eds., Proceedings of the 12th International 14C Conference. Radiocarbon 28(2B): 805–838.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. and Reimer, P. J. 1987 User's Guide to the Program Calib and Display Rev 2.1: Quaternary Isotope Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Sukenik, E. L. 1948 Hidden Scrolls Preliminary Report. Jerusalem, Mossad Bialik (in Hebrew).Google Scholar
Suter, M., Balzer, R., Bonani, G., Hofmann, H. J., Morenzoni, E., Nessi, M., Wölfli, W., Andrée, M., Beer, J. and Oeschger, H. 1984 Precision measurements of 14C in AMS – some results and prospects. In Wölfli, W., Polach, H. A. and Anderson, H. H., eds., Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods B5: 117–122.Google Scholar
Vogel, J. S., Southon, J. R. and Nelson, D. E. 1987 Catalyst and binder effects in the use of filamentous graphite for AMS. In Gove, H. E., Litherland, A. E. and Elmore, D., eds., Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods B29: 50–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogel, J. S., Southon, J. R., Nelson, D. E. and Brown, T. A. 1984 Performance of catalytically condensed carbon for use in accelerator mass spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods B5: 289–293.Google Scholar
Weiner, S., Kustanovich, Z., Emanuel, G-A and Traub, W. 1980 Dead Sea Scroll parchments: Unfolding of the collagen molecules and racemization of aspartic acid. Nature 287(5785): 820–823.Google Scholar
Wölfli, W. 1987 Advances in accelerator mass spectrometry. In Gove, H. E., Litherland, A. E. and Elmore, D., eds., Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry. Nuclear Instruments and Methods B29: 1–13.Google Scholar
Zeuner, F. E. 1969 Notes on Qumran. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 92: 27–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar