X-Rays Reveal Ancient Text

[emad]

X-Rays Reveal Ancient Text
By Cyrus Farivar

Using a technique called X-ray fluorescence, a team of researchers at Cornell University has revealed ancient inscriptions carved into stone that had faded away over the centuries.

Scientists fired high-energy X-ray beams at the 2,000-year-old inscriptions using Cornell University's synchrotron, exposing trace elements left over from paint that dried up and faded away centuries ago. Concentrations of those elements can then be mapped along the outline of the letters, making them readable to the naked eye.

"We move the stone back and forth doing the chemical analysis at each point, and we do that fast enough so we can create an image," said Robert Thorne, a professor of physics at Cornell University and co-author of the paper, which was published in the August edition of the Journal for Papyrology and Epigraphy.

X-ray fluorescence can isolate elements individually without altering them, and is often used in geology, archaeology and other fields that require chemical analysis. Scientists say it now has the potential to become a major tool in epigraphy -- the study of ancient writings on various surfaces, including stone.

Thorne said that in the past, archeologists and other scholars who study classical texts and ancient artifacts were limited to rubbing, shadowed light and lasers to detect inscriptions that had otherwise worn off.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68592,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_6

[tocqueville]

1. X-raying to the oldest version of the Bible ever found...

the following text could be read :

"All characters portrayed in this work are fictionous, any resemblence to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental"

Adam the sheperd

[emad]

2. With a special introduction to New Testament by Mr J. Christ's

attorneys saying: "Our client will sue anyone quoting him out of context or taking his name in vain".

[sakabatou]

3. ROFL