Ancient Writing, Modern Tech
Today we got articles about digital archives.
Iran's Ancient Story Preserved Digitally
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/551742/
Tens of thousands of Aramaic and cuneiform tablets from the Achaemenid Persian Empire are being digitalized by the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago into an online database. The tablets date from a short time period in the reign of Darius I, and contain administrative records on every level of society. Many of the images are photographed in high resolution and polarized light, making faded inks more visible. Another set of tablets are scanned using the so-called Polynomial Texture Mapping apparatus, which takes multiple images under different lighting conditions and ultimately allows users to virtually change the angle of the light source falling on the tablets.
Annoyingly though, I tried to access the already digitalized content, but one site, the West Semitic Research Project, requires users to print out, fill out, and fax an application form to get a login. The other site, OCHRE, is not even up yet. So at the end of the day I couldn't really see anything. Oh well.
UNESCO's Digital Library Includes Fake Maya Manuscript
http://www.mesoweb.com/reports/fakeMayaMs.html
UNESCO's recent launched World Digital Library is a fantastic resource. I've been exploring quite a bit of it myself. Unfortunately, according to this recent Mesoweb report, the WDL includes a fake Maya manuscript belonging to the so-called Canek group of manuscripts that purported to date to 1548 but in reality was a forgery made in the 1950's or 1960's. The giveaway was that it was written on modern paper and contained a Spanish translation of Sylvanus Morley's 1947 book The Ancient Maya.
One would think that for such a project rigorous peer review by scholars in relevant fields unattached to the project would've been conducted in order to catch mistakes. It would appear that such review wasn't done, which throws into question the authenticity of the content on the WDL.
Iran's Ancient Story Preserved Digitally
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/551742/
Tens of thousands of Aramaic and cuneiform tablets from the Achaemenid Persian Empire are being digitalized by the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago into an online database. The tablets date from a short time period in the reign of Darius I, and contain administrative records on every level of society. Many of the images are photographed in high resolution and polarized light, making faded inks more visible. Another set of tablets are scanned using the so-called Polynomial Texture Mapping apparatus, which takes multiple images under different lighting conditions and ultimately allows users to virtually change the angle of the light source falling on the tablets.
Annoyingly though, I tried to access the already digitalized content, but one site, the West Semitic Research Project, requires users to print out, fill out, and fax an application form to get a login. The other site, OCHRE, is not even up yet. So at the end of the day I couldn't really see anything. Oh well.
UNESCO's Digital Library Includes Fake Maya Manuscript
http://www.mesoweb.com/reports/fakeMayaMs.html
UNESCO's recent launched World Digital Library is a fantastic resource. I've been exploring quite a bit of it myself. Unfortunately, according to this recent Mesoweb report, the WDL includes a fake Maya manuscript belonging to the so-called Canek group of manuscripts that purported to date to 1548 but in reality was a forgery made in the 1950's or 1960's. The giveaway was that it was written on modern paper and contained a Spanish translation of Sylvanus Morley's 1947 book The Ancient Maya.
One would think that for such a project rigorous peer review by scholars in relevant fields unattached to the project would've been conducted in order to catch mistakes. It would appear that such review wasn't done, which throws into question the authenticity of the content on the WDL.