Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 12-22-2008, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Bearman correctly suspected the system's ability to take near-infrared images would be useful in capturing an accurate and detailed snapshot of the scrolls. He was also able to use CRi equipment to read previously obscured portions of the scrolls.

"It's pretty amazing. The scrolls were physically accessible, but unreadable. Now they can make out the characters on them," said Peter J. Miller, who cofounded CRi in 1985 and serves as its chief science officer. "Of course, the system can't answer the big question, which is, 'What do they say?' "

...

Bearman isn't alone in turning to CRi for solutions. The Church of Latter-day Saints, which conducts extensive Biblical-era document analysis, is also a client. And in the mid-1990s the Internal Revenue Service started using CRi equipment to identify forged documents.

Anyone know anything about the LDS analysis?

spin · 12-22-2008, 05:35 PM

That was one awful article, starting off telling us about one thing, giving almost no substance to it before changing the subject.. twice. The DSS were merely the hook into a reverie on Nuance. Sheesh.

spin

Roger Pearse · 12-25-2008, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toto

Putting the Past Under a Microscope

Quote:

Bearman correctly suspected the system's ability to take near-infrared images would be useful in capturing an accurate and detailed snapshot of the scrolls. He was also able to use CRi equipment to read previously obscured portions of the scrolls.

"It's pretty amazing. The scrolls were physically accessible, but unreadable. Now they can make out the characters on them," said Peter J. Miller, who cofounded CRi in 1985 and serves as its chief science officer. "Of course, the system can't answer the big question, which is, 'What do they say?' "

...

Bearman isn't alone in turning to CRi for solutions. The Church of Latter-day Saints, which conducts extensive Biblical-era document analysis, is also a client. And in the mid-1990s the Internal Revenue Service started using CRi equipment to identify forged documents.

Anyone know anything about the LDS analysis?

The LDS work that I am familiar with is the pioneering work of a team from Brigham Young University on the rolls from Herculaneum, using the multi-spectral imaging technique to turn black ink on black charred papyrus into readable text. The idea is that both are visible as black in the normal light spectrum; but if exposed to light on other frequencies, they will absorb light differently. This is just a development of the old way that palimpsests were read with ultra-violet light, conceptually; but the MSI technique is far more powerful in that the frequencies can be modified at will pretty much, so you just scroll along the frequencies until you find one where ink and papyrus respond differently.

I suspect that this is what is referred to here.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Toto · 12-30-2008, 11:31 AM

Imaging the Dead Sea Scrolls for conservation purposes

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12-22-2008, 05:35 PM	#2
spin Contributor Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: nowhere Posts: 15,747	That was one awful article, starting off telling us about one thing, giving almost no substance to it before changing the subject.. twice. The DSS were merely the hook into a reverie on Nuance. Sheesh. spin

12-30-2008, 11:31 AM	#4
Toto Contributor Join Date: Jun 2000 Location: Los Angeles area Posts: 40,549	Imaging the Dead Sea Scrolls for conservation purposes

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