A Little Light on the Dead Sea Scrolls
The BBC is reporting on a “Diamond synchrotron” that can image ancient scrolls without the danger of unrolling them. The plan is to finally read all of the Dead Sea scrolls.
Intense light beams will enable scientists to uncover the text in scrolls and books without having to open - and potentially damage - them.
Scientists from the University of Cardiff have developed a technique that uses a powerful X-ray source to create a three-dimensional image of an iron-inked document.
The team then applies a computer algorithm to separate the image into the different layers of parchment, in effect using the program to unroll the scroll.
This article explains the process in a simple way.
To “read” rolled up parchments, the X-rays are used in much the same way as they are in hospitals to produce images of bones.
Because the ink used for thousands of years to write on parchment contains iron, it creates a “shadow” on the X-ray image. Numerous X-ray scans are taken from different angles and the information digitally fed into a computer, which unscrambles the data to “unroll” the document and produce text that can be read. In tests, the technique has worked with 80% accuracy.
He said many old documents could not be unrolled or unfolded without them falling apart. Parchments were generally made from animal skin which over time can become jellified.
As well as investigating rolled parchments, the scientists also hope within the next three or four years to overcome the more difficult challenge of reading books without turning their pages.
Cool.
