In Search of Lost Time - Estimating Dates of Broken Cuneiform Documents

In Search of Lost Time - Estimating Dates of Broken Cuneiform Documents | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article In Search of Lost Time - Estimating Dates of Broken Cuneiform Documents Stav Klein, Avital Romach, Shai Gordin This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033722/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper tackles a simple but crucial question: can we estimate the dates of ancient texts when their original dates are missing? Historians have long relied on prosopography, the method of dating a text by checking whether the people it names appear in other, securely dated documents. The challenge is that this process quickly becomes unmanageable and inconsistent when applied across thousands of records. Our contribution is to bring computational tools and, in particular, network analysis, to bear on this traditional approach, allowing dates to be estimated systematically, quickly, at scale, and with full transparency and reproducibility. Biological sciences/Evolution Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 12 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 06 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 07 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 07 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 30 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 14 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 13 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9033722","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":618955604,"identity":"019be399-0bb2-4b8c-838a-5ad028eb6d68","order_by":0,"name":"Stav Klein","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Ariel University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Stav","middleName":"","lastName":"Klein","suffix":""},{"id":618955605,"identity":"b321459e-1472-437c-93b7-3a3cc2e68d0f","order_by":1,"name":"Avital Romach","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Yale University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Avital","middleName":"","lastName":"Romach","suffix":""},{"id":618955607,"identity":"8d0c2525-2f31-4e14-9011-3bd110738b48","order_by":2,"name":"Shai Gordin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Ariel University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shai","middleName":"","lastName":"Gordin","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-04 20:53:13","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033722/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033722/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106959851,"identity":"3a739c64-e940-4a9b-9efe-a81b1695b5f3","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-15 09:15:57","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":343452,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ReconstructingdatesNatureCollection180126.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9033722/v1_covered_ece9579c-5190-41ab-823b-36ae27d0e60b.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"In Search of Lost Time - Estimating Dates of Broken Cuneiform Documents","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033722/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9033722/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"This paper tackles a simple but crucial question: can we estimate the dates of ancient texts when their original dates are missing? 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