EAGER: New Techniques for Recognition and Visualization of Inscriptions on Papyrological Documents

Furman University, Greenville SC

Investigators

Abstract

This project will apply innovative techniques of automated recognition to digital facsimiles of ancient Greek papyri. The project combines three new technological approaches in attempting to analyze the oldest surviving papyrus texts from the 3rd century BC. The first is the automated, statistical evaluation of letter-forms on ancient texts. The second is advanced automated workflows for high-definition digital imaging that result in registered datasets of multi-spectral 2d images aligned to 3d models of a document. And the third is new capabilities in digital library infrastructure that allow automated discovery and retrieval of digital images in registration with textual transcriptions based on generic queries and at a fine level of granularity. All of these involve high levels of computation combined with innovative methodologies. If successful the work can significantly extend and expand existing research capabilities for recovering content from ancient inscriptions, in cases where text is regularized with discrete characters, and dating of the source-documents is made easier by virtue of archaeological context.