The Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) provided an incredibly clear view of the medieval text. (Credit: Emeline Pouyet )
Posted on 10/17/2018 10:10:35 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
By combining two imaging techniques (visible hyperspectral imaging and x-ray fluorescence), a diverse team of Northwestern University researchers has developed a new technology that gives access to medieval texts hidden in parchment re-used for ancient book-bindings, as Live Science reported. The new technology is seen by researchers as truly innovative, as it can be used to help decipher the text under the surface of other bookbinding materials. "For generations, scholars have thought this information was inaccessible, so they thought, 'Why bother?'" the study's senior researcher, Marc Walton, a senior scientist at the Northwestern University-Art Institute of Chicago Center for Scientific Studies (NU-ACCESS), said in a statement as Live Science reports. And continued, "But now computational imaging and signal processing advances open up a whole new way to read these texts." ...
The book responsible for sparking the study is a copy of Greek poet Hesiod's Work and Days from 1537. Purchased by Northwestern in 1870, the copy is the only remaining imprint retaining its original slotted parchment binding... When NU-ACCESS researchers studied the binding, they noticed that the bookbinder tried to remove the writing on the book board, likely through washing or scraping. The book board, however, retained two ghostly columns of writing surrounded by marginal comments, which were still visible through the parchment on book's front and back covers...
Eventually, the team of researchers decided to send the book to the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) in Ithaca, New York, where highly advanced X-rays captured the text and its marginal comments.
(Excerpt) Read more at ancient-origins.net ...
The Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) provided an incredibly clear view of the medieval text. (Credit: Emeline Pouyet )
Full title, "6th Century Roman Law Text Discovered After Being Hidden for Centuries Inside Parchment Recycled as Medieval Bookbinding".
Detective Scientists Discover Ancient Clues in Mummy Portraits
Northwestern University | February 15, 2016 | unattributed
Posted on 02/16/2016 8:57:29 PM PST by SunkenCiv
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3398081/posts
Thanks for posting!
This is very interesting.
Wished people today (myself included) had handwriting that legible.
There's probably plenty more.
I can barely write in a straight line when I use ruled paper!
The date is also interesting - 6th Century.
Rome was sacked in 410 AD.
Cool.
It’s probably early Byzantium aka Eastern roman empire since they lasted pretty long. Rome propper fell and hadrian’s wall was abandoned in the 400s period. My information comes from casual reading over the years so it could be unreliable.
I took a package in to get shipped at one of those ups places . I wrote the address and stuck it to the package. The young milineal that works there asked me to read it because she said she wasn’t taught to read cursive in school!
that would be retarded, we have smartphones for that now. < /s >
The Roman Empire had been divided by Diocletian, and that came in and out of practice (sometimes two empires, sometimes one), until the city of Rome itself was sacked and occupied by barbarians. Eastern emperor Justinian made an attempt to reconquer the lost provinces during the 6th century. The eastern empire, usually called Byzantine, didn't fall until after the sacking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453.
so when will the first use the auto-wordfill defense be? </s>
Undoubtedly written by someone affiliated with the Church, a monk, or some lay person.
The Justinian Code was issued around 530, but the article doesn’t say if this was a fragment of it.
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