Reading charcoal: Using particle physics detectors to decipher papirii | Dr Jens Dopke, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
PAST EVENT | 02 May 2019 19:00
Dr Jens Dopke will introduce the problem of reading ancient documents, in this particular project working on reconstruction of text from scrolls found in Herculanuem near Mt. Vesuvius. These scrolls are made from papyrus and have been written on using organic inks. After the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, these been slow-cooked under exclusion of oxygen, and have hence turnned into lumps of charcoal. All attempts of unrolling these subjects have been destructive.
First indications show that dark-field x-ray imaging allows us to make the ink of these documents visible, with good hope that this assumption holds for multi-layered documents that cannot be unrolled. Dr Dopke will introduce dark-field x-ray imaging, as well as reporting on the current status of the project, what’s lacking at the moment and where we plan to be within the next year(s).
Reading charcoal: Using particle physics detectors to decipher papirii | Dr Jens Dopke, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
PAST EVENT | 02 May 2019 19:00
Dr Jens Dopke will introduce the problem of reading ancient documents, in this particular project working on reconstruction of text from scrolls found in Herculanuem near Mt. Vesuvius. These scrolls are made from papyrus and have been written on using organic inks. After the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, these been slow-cooked under exclusion of oxygen, and have hence turnned into lumps of charcoal. All attempts of unrolling these subjects have been destructive.
First indications show that dark-field x-ray imaging allows us to make the ink of these documents visible, with good hope that this assumption holds for multi-layered documents that cannot be unrolled. Dr Dopke will introduce dark-field x-ray imaging, as well as reporting on the current status of the project, what’s lacking at the moment and where we plan to be within the next year(s).