Algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judah's military correspondence sheds light on composition of biblical texts.

dc.contributor.author

Faigenbaum-Golovin, Shira

dc.contributor.author

Shaus, Arie

dc.contributor.author

Sober, Barak

dc.contributor.author

Levin, David

dc.contributor.author

Na'aman, Nadav

dc.contributor.author

Sass, Benjamin

dc.contributor.author

Turkel, Eli

dc.contributor.author

Piasetzky, Eli

dc.contributor.author

Finkelstein, Israel

dc.date.accessioned

2022-11-30T20:30:53Z

dc.date.available

2022-11-30T20:30:53Z

dc.date.issued

2016-04

dc.date.updated

2022-11-30T20:30:53Z

dc.description.abstract

The relationship between the expansion of literacy in Judah and composition of biblical texts has attracted scholarly attention for over a century. Information on this issue can be deduced from Hebrew inscriptions from the final phase of the first Temple period. We report our investigation of 16 inscriptions from the Judahite desert fortress of Arad, dated ca 600 BCE-the eve of Nebuchadnezzar's destruction of Jerusalem. The inquiry is based on new methods for image processing and document analysis, as well as machine learning algorithms. These techniques enable identification of the minimal number of authors in a given group of inscriptions. Our algorithmic analysis, complemented by the textual information, reveals a minimum of six authors within the examined inscriptions. The results indicate that in this remote fort literacy had spread throughout the military hierarchy, down to the quartermaster and probably even below that rank. This implies that an educational infrastructure that could support the composition of literary texts in Judah already existed before the destruction of the first Temple. A similar level of literacy in this area is attested again only 400 y later, ca 200 BCE.

dc.identifier

1522200113

dc.identifier.issn

0027-8424

dc.identifier.issn

1091-6490

dc.identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/26247

dc.language

eng

dc.publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

dc.relation.ispartof

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

dc.relation.isversionof

10.1073/pnas.1522200113

dc.subject

Arad ostraca

dc.subject

biblical exegesis

dc.subject

document analysis

dc.subject

literacy level

dc.subject

machine learning

dc.title

Algorithmic handwriting analysis of Judah's military correspondence sheds light on composition of biblical texts.

dc.type

Journal article

duke.contributor.orcid

Faigenbaum-Golovin, Shira|0000-0003-0320-9726

duke.contributor.orcid

Sober, Barak|0000-0001-5090-5551

pubs.begin-page

4664

pubs.end-page

4669

pubs.issue

17

pubs.organisational-group

Duke

pubs.organisational-group

Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

pubs.organisational-group

Faculty

pubs.organisational-group

Mathematics

pubs.publication-status

Published

pubs.volume

113

Files

Original bundle

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Algorithmic Handwriting Analysis Arad Ostraca PNAS 2016_maintext.pdf
Size:
1.46 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format