There is no absolute way to tell, no spell that says "he's level 10/10 HD." You have to go with context clues and observation instead. That leads us to a two-part answer.
DM Description and Observation
Observe more closely and the DM should be more forthcoming with details. In many cases, higher level NPCs/monsters look different - think World of Warcraft, you can tell a high level person because of their crazy pimp looking gear and purple energy coming off them and stuff. Maybe he has ioun stones whizzing about his head, etc. Judicious use of detect magic, detect evil, etc. can tell you strength of auras. A DM should also think through setting up context clues per How can DMs effectively telegraph specific dangers in D&D? - like maybe someone powerful comes to mess with him and gets disintegrated while he's chatting amiably with the PCs.
Many high level characters are obvious - a gnome in a robe of the archmagi riding a dinosaur with all kinds of magical protection glimmering around him is obviously bad news. If all your gear is platinum and adamantite it means you're bad ass enough to keep a hold of it from random bandits and/or adventurers. Your DM should be conveying this detail, as long as you pause to take a look.
In some cases (monsters, undead) skill use may let you get a better read on what it is you're facing. In 3.X this was sadly routine (I will roll and you will tell me exactly what this is), in 5e this isn't as guaranteed a method of knowing exactly what's up and there's more DM discretion, but at least asking for a roll and getting hints might help.
It definitely sounds like your DM needs to be thinking through this more and giving more context. "Hey this dead guy looks a lot like that statue of Archmage Xulibraz back at the Acadamae..."
Play Smart
In some cases, a high level person isn't going to look/detect different from a low level person. This should be more rare unless your DM is a dink, though there are exceptions. A high level monk in rags looks like anyone else and a king might have super pimp gear despite being level 1 just because of daddy's money. Now, if you see the monk fight it should be like watching Jet Li and you should get the clear impression he could snap your neck and isn't some random yokel. But this is where the onus shifts to you. If you decide to just roll up on someone without knowing much about them, there's a good chance you're going to get owned one day. You have to be smart.
Observe folks. Ideally, use time prior to the actual encounter. If you know about them way ahead of time then there's divination spells or sage research or "asking around on the street." See if you can observe them fight someone or cast a spell or use a skill to where you would see "holy crap they are about 500% better at that than I am." Have a backup plan. If you just kick down doors and attack people, 1 in 10 times you're going to bite off more than you can chew and you'll need a fallback. That floating thing could be a beholder or a gas spore. That undead could be a zombie or a lich. Knowing that there is that range of foes, it's up to you to decide whether you want to be all reckless and maybe die one day or whether you want to be super cautious with everything or where you want to fall in between - just like real life.
Conclusion
You have just learned a valuable lesson, and learned it without dying! Congratulations. The world is dangerous and it's not always neatly labeled or level appropriate. Let this inspire you to think about how to suss out your foes both from afar and when in direct contact with them. It'll keep you alive more than a fistful of plusses.
The arcana check seems to be specific to attempts to copy spells from scrolls.
If you read the wizard section of the PHB, in a sidebar they mention you can copy spells from books if you have the required level and the spell is in the wizard's spell list. No check mentioned.
So it probably has more to do with the scroll being a consumable item.
If you were to copy a ritual spell from a scroll, it would be sensible to make you roll an arcana check.
Best Answer
Object reading
I don't think there are any published spells which explicitly function in the manner described, so your GM has probably invented this anti-tampering spell as a plot device.
However, one character option that does let you find out about the history of an object is the Knowledge Domain cleric's Object Reading ability, gained as part their Visions of the Past feature at 17th level:
Of course, it's up to the DM's reckoning as to what constitutes a significant event for the scroll. I would judge it has to actually involve the scroll directly in some way - the object simply being present while something else important happens doesn't count. However, casting a spell on the scroll for some reason should almost certainly qualify as a significant event, and if it's the most recent thing of note that they did with the scroll, the meditating cleric will learn about it.
This does require a 17th level cleric to be doing the investigating and it's still very limited in what it can uncover if an object has a particularly interesting history. However, it does work without needing any sort of pre-preparation of the item to be investigated.