AncientTexts
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Vatican and Oxford libraries scan ancient works, let scholars stay in their armchairs
Two of the world's most hallowed libraries are about to get even quieter, having been given $3 million to go with the flow and put some of their oldest collections online. The Vatican Library and Oxford University's Bodleian Library will together offer up 1.5 million pages of hoary text, including Gutenberg's Latin Bible from the 15th Century, a 1,200-year-old Hebrew codex called the "Sifra," and enough Greek philosophy to make even Homer seem succinct. At the end of a five-year flatbed scanner marathon, these digital copies will be accessible to speakers of dead languages everywhere, and hopefully for less than sacrilegious prices.
'Handwriting' recognition offers accurate way for dating stone tablets
Archaeology 101 will tell you that accurately dating an object is critical to understanding its meaning and value. When it comes to stone carvings, this typically requires a researcher with plenty of energy, time and skill, but scientists at the National Technical University of Athens have now developed a computer algorithm that promises to revolutionize the entire process. By overlaying digital scans of known inscribers' work, the Greek team are able to recognize stylistic idiosyncrasies and thereby identify the author of a carving. Their accuracy was confirmed by a recent test, in which they attributed proper authorship of 24 stone tablets, picking out the correct chiseler each time. Next step: seeking royalty payments for the works of your great uncle Xanthos.
Powerful "light scope" used to unearth ancient texts
According to the BBC, scientists at the University of Cardiff have developed a method of reading ancient, highly-sensitive texts (such as the Dead Sea Scrolls) by projecting beams of light ten-billion times brighter than the sun into the parchment. The new technique combines a powerful X-ray-like device called the Diamond Synchrotron (no, seriously), and a computer algorithm that pieces together layers of text to create a three dimensional, readable images of an iron-inked document. Professor Tim Wess, lead researcher on the projects says, "We've folded up a real piece of parchment and then done a process of X-ray tomography on it. We've been able to recover the structure where we can see the words that are written inside the document." The scientists now plan on using the process to explore ancient texts which have been heretofore unreadable due to fear of damage, including 18th century fire-damaged scrolls, and the previously mentioned Dead Sea Scrolls.
