3 ms·
Perhaps, but I'm skeptical. Transcribing the cuneiform script is difficult. There are hundreds of signs. Transcribing a tablet requires some understanding of t
by wl 7y ago
Perhaps, but I'm skeptical.
Transcribing the cuneiform script is difficult. There are hundreds of signs. Transcribing a tablet requires some understanding of the language because a sign can take on many different values (polyphony), some signs are so similar that they can only be differentiated by context, and if you're dealing with a language like Hittite, you need to recognize when a sign should be understood as representing an Akkadian or Sumerian word or grammatical construct as a scribal abbreviation. All this changes from language to language and era to era. Also, how signs are written changes over time. And then, getting into the physical aspects of working with tablets, pretty much all of them have damage. Cuneiform is a 3D script and tablets requires varying the light, which won't be captured from a single photograph. Indeed, line drawings are the standard way of publishing tablets. When photographs are used, many are taken with varying light. Some computational techniques are beginning to be used, but very few tablets are recorded in this way. Many tablets are in fragments spread around the museums of the world—figuring out which fragments go together or which tablets are duplicates of each other (to fill in damage) is the largest part of publishing cuneiform texts.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- zozbot234 7y ago3D scanning ought to help, then. Even X-ray CT might make sense, if the resolution can be pushed high enough to fully capture the carvings that encode cuneiform script.
- Libbum 7y agoThe British Museum are working on digitising their collection with 3D scans and high resolution imaging. The catalogue is slowly coming online, an example: https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details/collection_image_gallery.aspx?assetId=1516160001&objectId=295190&partId=1 https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_onlin...
- gumby 7y ago> Many tablets are in fragments spread around the museums of the world—figuring out which fragments go together or which tablets are duplicates of each other (to fill in damage) is the largest part of publishing cuneiform texts. Although archeologists (an other scholars) may lack access to a horde of fired-up Iranian revolutionary students[0], this one problem has actually been solved. Of course doing it for cuneiform may have to wait until some of the other issues you mentioned may need to be solved first. [0] https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/07/is-it-possible-to-reassemble-a-shredded-document.html https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/07/is-it-possible-t...