Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. Earth Science News .




ABOUT US
New images could crack ancient writings
by Staff Writers
Oxford, England (UPI) Oct 23, 2012


disclaimer: image is for illustration purposes only

British researchers say new technology may soon allow historians to crack the world's oldest as-yet undeciphered system of writing.

Scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton have developed a new imaging system to capture some of the world's most important historical documents.

The technique, dubbed reflectance transformation imaging, uses a dome with 76 lights and a camera positioned at the top of the dome. A manuscript is placed in the center of the dome as 76 photos are taken with one of the 76 lights individually lit for each exposure.

The 76 images are then combined so that researchers can move the light across the surface of the digital image and use the difference between light and shadow to highlight never-before-seen details.

Among the documents photographed are manuscripts written in the so-called proto-Elamite writing system used in ancient Iran from 3,200 to 3,000 B.C., the oldest undeciphered writing system currently known.

By viewing extremely high quality images of these documents, and by sharing them with a community of scholars worldwide, researchers hope to crack the code once and for all.

"We have never been able to view documents in this quality before," researcher Jacob Dahl said in an Oxford release.

"The quality of the images captured is incredible. And it is important to remember that you cannot decipher a writing system without having reliable images because you will, for example, overlook differences barely visible to the naked eye which may have meaning," Dahl said.

"Consider for example not being able to distinguish the letter i from the letter t."

.


Related Links
All About Human Beings and How We Got To Be Here






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








ABOUT US
Japanese lake record improves radiocarbon dating
Washington DC (SPX) Oct 19, 2012
A new series of radiocarbon measurements from Japan's Lake Suigetsu should help make radiocarbon dating more precise and accurate, especially for older objects, researchers report. The work could be used to refine estimates of the ages of organic material by hundreds of years. Archaeologists, for example, may be able to further specify the timing of the extinction of Neandertals or the spr ... read more


ABOUT US
Clinton hails Haitian post-quake reconstruction

Top Italy scientists resign in protest at quake ruling

Japan's radiation monitoring unreliable: Greenpeace

Japan saves 64 Chinese seamen from burning freighter

ABOUT US
Zynga stock jumps despite earnings loss

50-year-old computer restored in Britain

Microsoft courts mobile lifestyles with Windows 8

Danes develop eye-control software for phones, tablets

ABOUT US
EU keeps fishing subsidies, attacked by environmentalists

Sweden's only coral reef at risk of dying

A Mississippi River diversion helped build Louisiana wetlands

Leisure boats threaten the Swedish West Coast archipelago

ABOUT US
New understanding of Antarctic's weight-loss

Australia's Antarctic runway melting

Arctic seafloor said littered with plastic

Leonardo DiCaprio urges Antarctic ocean sanctuary

ABOUT US
Panels reject study on GM corn but urge wider probes

Indian farmers cotton on to sustainable farming

Pesticides have knock-on effect for bees: study

Some 500 scientists have created a Top 10 list of plant-damaging fungi

ABOUT US
Hurricane makes direct hit on Jamaican capital

Flooding cut Nigerian oil output by around 20 percent

Jamaica, Cuba issue hurricane warnings

Italian scientists sentenced to jail in quake trial

ABOUT US
Morocco trial of 23 Sahrawis postponed indefinitely

Tuareg killed by uniformed men in central Mali: reports

Climate variability and conflict risk in East Africa measured by Boulder team

Two Guinea-Bissau politicians badly beaten by soldiers

ABOUT US
New images could crack ancient writings

Japanese lake record improves radiocarbon dating

Novel chewing gum formulation helps prevent motion sickness

Discovery of two opposite ways humans voluntarily forget unwanted memories




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement