Comparison of Scripts

c. 150–100 B.C.¹

c. 100–50 B.C.²

c. 50–25 B.C.³

Fragments of 15 copies of the Book of Jubilees have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The earliest dates to approximately 125 B.C. and the latest from the first century A.D. How do scholars date manuscripts 2,000 years old? They examine the shape, stance and form of the letters and compare them to previously dated manuscripts.