The fourth scroll dated to the Early Hellenistic period in DJD is 4Q70 (4QJeremiah a). Dated variously to the late 3rd or early 2nd century BCE, this ms contains text from the first half of Jeremiah and good evidence of scribal corrections
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As a non-specialist, I'd be interested to know what the basis for these early datations is. Are there e.g. other manuscripts with similar palaeographical features that bear dates from the 3rd/2nd c. BCE (probably not)? Or was the material radio-carbon dated? Or is it the archaeological context?
Your question is an excellent one.
These are all paleographic dates, which are more guesstimates than anything.
The fact that we don't have any scripts which can be firmly dated to this period (3rd to early 2nd century BCE) is a real problem.
These dates must be taken with a huge grain of salt.
Basically, it's all palaeography. There are a few dated mss and inscriptions but mostly they were dated on the basis of a proposed chronology of scripts and features. Very few have been carbon-dated. A project at Groningen has been testing and developing new methods. Results will be published soon.
Comments
These are all paleographic dates, which are more guesstimates than anything.
The fact that we don't have any scripts which can be firmly dated to this period (3rd to early 2nd century BCE) is a real problem.
These dates must be taken with a huge grain of salt.
😅