Open AccessAncient administrative handwritten documents: X‐ray analysis and imaging
Author(s) -
Albertin F.,
Astolfo A.,
Stampai M.,
Peccenini Eva,
Hwu Y.,
Kaplan F.,
Margaritondo G.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of synchrotron radiation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.172
H-Index - 99
ISSN - 1600-5775
DOI - 10.1107/s1600577515000314
Subject(s) - contrast (vision) , attenuation , tomography , computer science , reading (process) , antique , synchrotron , optics , artificial intelligence , archaeology , physics , geography , linguistics , philosophy
Handwritten characters in administrative antique documents from three centuries have been detected using different synchrotron X‐ray imaging techniques. Heavy elements in ancient inks, present even for everyday administrative manuscripts as shown by X‐ray fluorescence spectra, produce attenuation contrast. In most cases the image quality is good enough for tomography reconstruction in view of future applications to virtual page‐by‐page `reading'. When attenuation is too low, differential phase contrast imaging can reveal the characters from refractive index effects. The results are potentially important for new information harvesting strategies, for example from the huge Archivio di Stato collection, objective of the Venice Time Machine project.