The Role of Memory in Vorlage-based Transmission: Evidence from Erasures and Corrections

This article argues that the act of Vorlage-based copying involves a dynamic interplay between both memory and Vorlage. While numerous scholars argue that memory played a significant role in textual transmission in ancient Israel and early Judaism, few have explicitly discussed the role that memory plays in the act of copying a manuscript. This article identifies with greater precision the point in the copying process at which a scribe may rely on long-term memory, rather than his Vorlage. The article will examine three erasures in three Dead Sea scrolls that demonstrate the phenomenon of memory-cued errors, in which a scribe’s long-term memory caused mistakes in the copying process. Not only do these memory-cued errors illustrate the role of memory in the copying process, they also allow for a much clearer and more nuanced understanding of the nature of textual transmission.