This fascinating essay is quite technical and hard to excerpt. The main issue is the question of how ancient the layout (as opposed to the text itself) of the Masoretic Text is. The specific examples are the dots placed over some of the words and the division of the five lines preceding the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15.
The answer, the author concludes, is that the the division of the five lines is earlier than the Ashkar-Gilson manuscript, which dates to the seventh or eight century CE. So, very old indeed.
For PaleoJudaica posts on Ashkar-Gilson fragments of Exodus, start here, here, and here, and follow the links.
For many PaleoJudaica posts noting Cairo Geniza Fragments of the Month in the Cambridge University Library's Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, start here and follow the links.
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