Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Toto · 09-12-2007, 11:34 PM

Powerful x-ray to unravel fragile Dead Sea scrolls

Quote:

They will look at the texts using x-rays produced at the £360m Diamond Light Source in Didcot, Oxfordshire. The machine works by propelling electrons at great speeds around a giant tunnel. As they corner, they emit x-rays 100bn times brighter than a medical x-ray.

Researchers led by Tim Wess have developed computer software that can "unravel" x-ray images of rolled up parchment documents to reveal the writing, even if the parchment has text on either side.

The scientists have focused their efforts on reading parchments from the 18th century and found that they are able to read 80% of the words written on documents without unravelling them.

Roger Pearse · 09-13-2007, 12:55 AM

Most interesting! Mind you, at that speed there must be questions about damage -- they have acquired plenty of energy from the sound of it.

mountainman · 09-13-2007, 02:26 AM

This technology could probably read palimpsests.

youngalexander · 09-13-2007, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Pearse

Most interesting! Mind you, at that speed there must be questions about damage -- they have acquired plenty of energy from the sound of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mm

This technology could probably read palimpsests.

Hmm, well I dunno?
But

Quote:

Many historical documents are recorded in iron gall ink, a mix of oak apple, iron sulphate and copper, on parchment made from the treated skin of cows, goats or sheep. With time, the collagen that holds the parchment together degrades and turns into gelatin, damage that is accelerated by the corrosive nature of the ink.

Using the x-ray machine, scientists can examine sheets of parchment in such detail that they can decide how badly degraded they are over distances of one thousandth of a millimetre. If they are badly degraded, the researchers will be able to use the new technique to read them without risk of destroying them.

More a case of 'watch this space' I suspect.

Clivedurdle · 09-13-2007, 08:21 AM

Palimpsests are easy peasy to read!

http://www.archimedespalimpsest.org/

What is interesting is what we will soon be able to recover, it is like microscopes and telescopes, our abilities to explore are continuously getting better - planets around stars for example.

Jesus DNA in a wasp that stung him and then got trapped in some amber?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Times-Eye-Ti...469910-9920450

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09-13-2007, 12:55 AM	#2
Roger Pearse Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: N/A Posts: 4,370	Most interesting! Mind you, at that speed there must be questions about damage -- they have acquired plenty of energy from the sound of it.

09-13-2007, 02:26 AM	#3
mountainman Contributor Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Falls Creek, Oz. Posts: 11,192	This technology could probably read palimpsests.

09-13-2007, 08:21 AM	#5
Clivedurdle Contributor Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: London UK Posts: 16,024	Palimpsests are easy peasy to read! http://www.archimedespalimpsest.org/ What is interesting is what we will soon be able to recover, it is like microscopes and telescopes, our abilities to explore are continuously getting better - planets around stars for example. Jesus DNA in a wasp that stung him and then got trapped in some amber? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Times-Eye-Ti...469910-9920450

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