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EU Grants €2.5 M for AI-Powered Ancient Scroll Mapping

7/2/2026

Summary

Popovic Secures Funding

The Council awarded €2.5 million to Professor Mladen Popovic of the University of Groningen for the “Tracing Scribes and Scrolls” project.
The Israel Antiquities Authority and labs in Pisa, Naples Federico II, Southern Denmark and KU Leuven will examine 250 parchment, papyrus and ink samples while artificial-intelligence processes the chemical data to create fingerprints.
The chemical signatures will be compared with ancient Egyptian papyri to trace origins, locate production sites and map 25,000 fragments.

Summary

Popovic Launches Study

The Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem supplies core samples for a five-year study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Led by Professor Mladen Popovic, a multidisciplinary team will test whether Qumran was a secluded scriptorium, a regional library or an ancient genizah, and will compare the samples with Egyptian papyri to map parchment and ink trade routes.
The effort may locate the scrolls’ production sites and resolve long-standing scholarly debates.

History

Historical Context

In 1979 the Oxford Radiocarbon Laboratory dated a Dead Sea Scroll fragment (1QH) to 47 BCE–118 CE, confirming its Second Temple period origin. This followed Libby’s carbon-14 test on a Qumran linen in 1950 and the Zurich (1991) and Tucson (1994-95) programs that refined dating accuracy. Today Professor Mladen Popovic’s €2.5 million AI-driven “Tracing Scribes and Scrolls” project builds on that legacy to fingerprint 250 samples across labs.

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Popovic Secures Funding

The Council awarded €2.5 million to Professor Mladen Popovic of the University of Groningen for the “Tracing Scribes and Scrolls” project.
The Israel Antiquities Authority and labs in Pisa, Naples Federico II, Southern Denmark and KU Leuven will examine 250 parchment, papyrus and ink samples while artificial-intelligence processes the chemical data to create fingerprints.
The chemical signatures will be compared with ancient Egyptian papyri to trace origins, locate production sites and map 25,000 fragments.

1 / 3