Illuminating the Herculaneum Papyri: Testing new imaging techniques on unrolled carbonised manuscript fragments

  • Kathryn E. Piquette (Autor/in)
    Senior Research Consultant and Imaging Specialist UCL Centre for Digital Humanities and UCL Advanced Imaging Consultants University College London Foster Court London WC1E 6BT UK EU

    Senior Research Associate at the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities. As an Egyptologist and digital imaging specialist her research interests encompass the archaeology—including writing and art—of ancient Egypt and the Near East, and their investigation through the lens of social theory and practices from the Digital Humanities.

Identifier (Artikel)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.11588/dco.2017.0.39417

Identifier (Dateien)

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-dco-394179 (PDF (English))

Abstract

This article describes the results of advanced imaging pilot testing on unrolled Herculaneum Papyri undertaken in 2014 as part of a collaboration between the Universität zu Köln and the Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli. Building on results obtained by a Brigham Young University team in 1999–2002 using near infrared (NIR) photography, the aim was to test the potential for improving legibility and documentation of surface structures by combining the nondestructive techniques of NIR and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). The results show that, in addition to achieving super high-resolution images with enhanced contrast between the black ink and carbonised papyrus, NIR-RTI enables more accurate recording of surface morphology surface and enables the user to clarify the relationships between the ink constrate and the papyrus substrate. The article also identifies areas for improving image acquisition and usability.

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Zusätzliche Inhalte

Veröffentlicht
2017-11-02
Ausgabe
Bd. 3,2 (2017)
Rubrik
Digital Classics Online Artikel
Sprache
en
Beitragende/r oder Sponsor
FOR LIST SEE ATTACHED FILE IN SUPPLEMENTS (advise if shortening is reuqired - draws on acknoledgements in article)
Schlagworte
Herculaneum papyri, digital imaging, Reflectance Transformation Imaging, infrared photography

Lizenz

Creative-Commons-Lizenz
Dieses Werk steht unter der Lizenz Creative Commons Namensnennung - Weitergabe unter gleichen Bedingungen 4.0 International.