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Imaging the past: recent applications of multispectral imaging technology to deciphering manuscripts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Douglas M. Chabries ,
Steven W. Booras  and
Gregory H. Bearman
Steven W. Booras
Affiliation:
ISPART, Brigham Young University, USA
Gregory H. Bearman
Affiliation:
ANE Image, Pasadena, California, USA
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Abstract

Multi-spectral imaging (MSI), which was developed to explore the surface of the earth and other planets from space, has been adapted to read and record faded or burnt manuscripts. The authors show how MSI achieved new readings from carbonised and damaged fragments of papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum, Petra and the Judean Desert. The method has potential for investigating the degraded ornamental surfaces of other artefacts.

Keywords

multispectral imagingancient-text imagingscrolls

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Antiquity , Volume 77 , Issue 296 , June 2003 , pp. 359 - 372
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2003

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