Redating the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Book of DanielI have been following this story since it came out last June. For posts on this new AI redating of some Dead Sea Scrolls, along with new C-14 dating of some of the scrolls, the latter including 4QDanielc (4Q114), see the links collected here. Some of them have my own commentary on the redating and its implications for the date of the composition of the Book of Daniel.Recent advances in radiocarbon dating and AI-assisted handwriting analysis suggest that some Dead Sea Scrolls, most notably a Daniel manuscript (4Q114), may be closer in date to the book’s mid-second-century BCE composition than previously thought, reinforcing the mainstream scholarly view that Daniel emerged during the crisis under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. The article situates this finding within a long history of flexible interpretation, showing how Daniel’s apocalyptic imagery has been repeatedly re-read to address new historical crises, from Hellenistic and Roman times to modern politics where the text is still invoked to frame contemporary conflicts and leaders in apocalyptic terms.[1]
See also “Avoiding the Apocalypse in the Book of Daniel,” in Misusing Scripture: What are Evangelicals Doing with the Bible? (Routledge, 2023).
By Ian Young
Professor of Biblical Studies and Ancient Languages
Australian Catholic UniversityBy Gareth Wearne
Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and the History and Archaeology of Ancient Israel
Australian Catholic UniversityBy Evan Caddy
PhD Candidate
Australian Catholic University
February 2026
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