About 1650 BCE · museum script-based dating
Copy / manufacture · Approximate pointOne document.
Several kinds of time.
Explore the selected pilot documents across their distinct life events. Dates are shown as the source reports them; gaps remain unplaced.
The shared axis uses historical BCE/CE labels with no year zero. An approximate point stays approximate. A bounded interval keeps its endpoints. Separate calibrated probability components remain separate bands for one event; a gap is not filled in. Modern editions, access receipts and inquiries date research activity, not ancient composition. This display performs no elapsed-year or cosmic-age calculation.
Place the dated evidence
One common scale: 1700 BCE to 2030 CE. Wider bars represent reported ranges; a dot marks a point or approximate point. The full label carries its precision. Modern events cluster at the right.
200–150 BCE · 1993 exhibition copy-date assessment
Copy / manufacture · Range4Q208 parchment · 186–92 BCE, reported 2σ interval in 1995
Material · Historical calibrated intervalP904-Fr009 · 165–40 BCE (93.6%) and 10–1 BCE (1.9%)
Material dating · Disjoint calibrated intervals · 95.4% reported levelThirteenth century CE · historical catalogue estimate
Copy / manufacture · Century1896 · expedition / gift credit
Acquisition · YearJuly 1957 · PAM 42.228 photograph, as dated by Langlois
Photograph · Month reported; plotted at year scaleJanuary 1960 · PAM 43.198 photograph, as dated by Langlois
Photograph · Month reported; plotted at year scale1976 · Milik’s cited Aramaic edition
Edition / translation · Year1985 · revised catalogue description
Catalogue publication · Year1993 · institutional caption and selected English excerpt
Edition / translation · YearDSS-13 sampling belongs to the 21–22 March 1994 batch
Sampling · Year; two-day batch specifiedRadiocarbon 37(1) report · 1995
Laboratory publication · Publication year2000 · Stuckenbruck edition of fragments 2–8 in DJD 36
Edition / translation · Year2008 · Langlois fragment 2 study and French rendering
Edition / translation · YearDrawnel edition used by the selected later English excerpts · 2011
Edition · Publication yearDrawnel edition used by the selected later English excerpts · 2011
Edition · Publication yearIAA colour photograph · November 2013
Photograph · Year; month recorded in sourceIAA colour photograph · November 2013
Photograph · Year; month recorded in sourceJacobus calendar reconstruction and Ratzon comparison · 2019
Research · Publication yearJacobus calendar reconstruction and Ratzon comparison · 2019
Research · Publication yearTigchelaar proposed fragment join · 2022
Research · Publication year4 June 2025 · study and sample-specific supporting data published
Dating study · Year2026 · study catalogue received privately
Research access · Year6 November 2026 · Oxford comparison inquiry
Correspondence · Day in label; year on overviewThe dating arguments
Catalogue assessment · Approximate point
Basis: Palaeography / script comparison
The museum explicitly attributes the seventeenth-century estimate to script; no lab measurement is claimed.
Historical assessment · Range
Basis: Exhibition dating; underlying method to trace
Retained with its source date. It is not presented as a newly established consensus.
4Q208 parchment · 186–92 BCE, reported 2σ interval in 1995
Published historical result · Historical calibrated interval
Basis: Arizona AMS: DSS-13 / AA-13245, 2095 ± 20 BP; nine determinations. 1986 calibration references in the report.
Table 2 also gives 1σ 166–102 BCE and historical palaeographic estimate about 200 BCE. No fresh calibration was performed. Material dating does not date the author, ink, calendar epoch or a Flood.
Published material measurement transcribed · Disjoint calibrated intervals · 95.4% reported level
Basis: AMS radiocarbon, 2077 ± 18 BP; OxCal 4.4.4 / IntCal20
Two alternative probability intervals for one parchment sample, not two manufacture events. Neither is an ink, composition or author date. Component percentages are rounded in the published plot.
Thirteenth century CE · historical catalogue estimate
Historical assessment · Century
Basis: Catalogue description; underlying basis to confirm
Printed p. 353 gives an approximate copying period. No dated colophon or radiocarbon result is claimed.
Catalogue-reported · Year
Basis: Museum credit line
An acquisition-history anchor, not a dated ancient event.
Published photographic-history reference · Month reported; plotted at year scale
Basis: Langlois photograph table p. 61 and fragment 2 image p. 389
Documents a photograph, not excavation or antiquity. The table and fragment-study numbering must remain identifiable.
Published photographic-history reference · Month reported; plotted at year scale
Basis: Langlois photograph table p. 61; historical inventory plate concordance
The photographic inventory links this negative to museum plate 904. The modern photograph date is distinct from an ancient writing date or recovery date.
Publication reference located · Year
Basis: Exhibition bibliography
The publication year dates an edition, not the ancient copy.
1985 · revised catalogue description
Bibliographic anchor · Year
Basis: Historical catalogue edition
The catalogue publication date is separate from the manuscript estimate.
Selected public translation · Year
Basis: Exhibition publication
Full manuscript translation coverage is not established by the excerpt.
Reported sampling batch · Year; two-day batch specified
Basis: Report p. 11 excludes DSS-50, 52 and 53 from this batch; DSS-13 is not among those exceptions.
Exact within-batch sampling day and fragment-image concordance remain unconfirmed.
Located · Publication year
Basis: Journal issue date
Cambridge’s 2016 online date is digital availability, not the original publication year.
Edition reference corroborated; pages not inspected · Year
Basis: IAA publication list and Langlois p. 51
Establishes that these fragments were subsequently published. The older inventory’s unpublished labels cannot establish their status today; exact English coverage remains unchecked.
Selected edition pages and rendering inspected · Year
Basis: Author-hosted study pp. 389–399
A French rendering exists for this fragmentary unit. Textual placement remains debated and this is not proof that every line survives or that a whole-witness translation audit is complete.
Drawnel edition used by the selected later English excerpts · 2011
Bibliographic route · Publication year
Basis: Jacobus cites and adapts the edition
The complete 2011 edition was not obtained; the selected later excerpts were inspected.
Drawnel edition used by the selected later English excerpts · 2011
Bibliographic route · Publication year
Basis: Jacobus cites and adapts the edition
The complete 2011 edition was not obtained; the selected later excerpts were inspected.
Located · Year; month recorded in source
Basis: Custodian photograph metadata
This dates modern imaging, not the ancient writing.
Located · Year; month recorded in source
Basis: Custodian photograph metadata
This dates modern imaging, not the ancient writing.
Jacobus calendar reconstruction and Ratzon comparison · 2019
Selected pages reviewed · Publication year
Basis: Competing mathematical reconstructions
A modern reconstruction fills gaps with an argument; it is not additional surviving ancient writing.
Jacobus calendar reconstruction and Ratzon comparison · 2019
Selected pages reviewed · Publication year
Basis: Competing mathematical reconstructions
A modern reconstruction fills gaps with an argument; it is not additional surviving ancient writing.
Metadata located · Publication year
Basis: Author-deposited preprint
Full join argument and current editorial acceptance still require inspection.
Primary report and supplements checked · Year
Basis: Primary research and supporting sample tables
The study’s publication date is separate from the ancient sample date. The AI model is trained with radiocarbon reference data; it is not an independent second laboratory measurement.
Receipt recorded · Year
Basis: Reviewed project record
Receiving a catalogue does not mean manuscript images, an edition or a translation have been obtained.
6 November 2026 · Oxford comparison inquiry
Automatic acknowledgement only · Day in label; year on overview
Basis: Reviewed dispatch / response record
The acknowledgement supplies no folio, edition or permission answer.
Not yet placed in time
These are visible research tasks, not missing rows. A discovery, composition or material interval needs its own source before it receives a numeric position.
Flood narrative · historical event date unestablished
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Textual narrative
A narrated Flood cannot be dated from the copy alone.
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Bibliography needed
The physical witness and first composition have separate histories.
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Excavation documentation needed
Do not substitute the credit-line year for a witnessed discovery date.
Literary setting · Unassigned
Basis: Textual attribution
A patriarchal narrative setting is not a laboratory age or the copy date.
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Textual and historical analysis needed
Do not apply one date to all sections or substitute the patriarch’s lifetime.
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Item-level field / acquisition records needed
Machiela reports mixed 1952 recovery routes and a large fragment associated with official excavation plate PAM 40.985. A candidate image/edition concordance for the sampled piece is now recorded, but its specific field or accession entry remains unverified. Competing fragment numberings cannot establish that it is the same excavated piece.
Base treatise composition · exact year unassigned
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Author/work bibliography
An author’s approximate period does not provide an exact year for this treatise.
Supplement composition · separate date unassigned
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Separate work record
The base work and later supplement require distinct composition histories.
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Provenance / accession records needed
Collection membership alone cannot reconstruct a complete custody chain.
Composition of this Astronomical Book recension · not independently dated here
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Distinguish work composition from surviving copy
Neither a literary attribution to Enoch nor a date for another copy establishes this composition date.
Cave 4 witness · exact recovery and acquisition trail still to trace
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Item-specific recovery record needed
A photograph date is not the discovery date. A regional find history does not identify an individual finder.
Copying interval · item-specific handwriting assessment still to reconcile
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Palaeography requires a named comparison and assessment date
No numeric interval is borrowed from 4Q201 or the other astronomical witness.
Composition of this Astronomical Book recension · not independently dated here
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Distinguish work composition from surviving copy
Neither a literary attribution to Enoch nor a date for another copy establishes this composition date.
Cave 4 witness · exact recovery and acquisition trail still to trace
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Item-specific recovery record needed
A photograph date is not the discovery date. A regional find history does not identify an individual finder.
Copying interval · item-specific handwriting assessment still to reconcile
Open · Unassigned
Basis: Palaeography requires a named comparison and assessment date
No numeric interval is borrowed from 4Q201 or the other astronomical witness.
Learning in the Light
In Babylon, the Father’s light opens perspective, learning and a chosen next step. Your worth remains intact. Every person is sovereign, with dignity, freedom and room to grow.
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