Ken Zuckerman developed the Multi-View Apparatus that digitizes inscriptions to create clear photos of the symbols.
Photo: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
Posted on 11/10/2009 11:44:46 PM PST by neverdem
Four thousand years ago, a government bureaucrat in Mesopotamia jotted down a tally of slave laborers on a clay tablet.
The bureaucrat left behind the count in wedge-shaped symbols that proved hard to fully decipher with the naked eye.
Until now.
Researchers at the University of Southern California's West Semitic Research Project have helped uncover its hidden narrative with the aid of lighting and imaging techniques that are credited with revolutionizing the study of ancient texts.
Over the last three decades, the USC project has produced thousands of crisp images of inscriptions and other artifacts from biblical Israel and other Near Eastern locales, making the pictures available to the public in an online archive, InscriptiFact.com.
Among the items shown in the online collection is a Dead Sea Scroll dating to the first century that discusses a buried treasure in modern-day Israel. (It's impossible to pinpoint the precise location because landmarks mentioned in the text no longer exist.)
The database also features an Aramaic inscription on a sheet of papyrus written by a group of Jews in Egypt five centuries before the birth of Jesus. In the text - whose image is so sharp it reveals the grain of the papyrus - Jews petition distant Persian rulers for permission to rebuild a temple.
"A picture is worth a thousand words," said Bruce Zuckerman, a USC religion professor who founded the research project in the early 1980s. "Sometimes big issues in history can turn on the interpretation of a single letter."
Zuckerman's foray into the world of photography and ancient texts grew out of his frustration over the poor quality of archaeological photos.
Museum photographers, he recalled, often missed important details because they lacked scholarly expertise.
Biblical researchers, meanwhile, typically did not have enough experience with photography to produce compelling images...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Ken Zuckerman developed the Multi-View Apparatus that digitizes inscriptions to create clear photos of the symbols.
Photo: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
It has been my firm belief for some time, that eventually, science will confirm what faith has allways known....
amazing!
Smile! You’re on Candid Ping!
“Honest, Officer; those are not growlights! Come inside & I’ll show you my etchings I’m photog...Arrrgh!”
Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.
The use of higher resolution digital cameras, and better lighting, produces images which are easier for others to later read.
Gee....who’da thunk?
LOLK
I just finished mine.
My name is not eeegor, it’s I..gor
ping
“A crummy commercial?”
|
|
|||
Gods |
Thanks ApplegateRanch and Fractal Trader for those pings, and thanks neverdem for posting this topic. |
||
|
· Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
|||
Good stuff.
Wall grafitti:
The end of days is coming...so if you want a good time, call on Theodora in the next village.
“The bureaucrat left behind the count in wedge-shaped symbols that proved hard to fully decipher with the naked eye. “
Why spend time reading obscure ancient government forms when you can go to opm.gov ?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.