Ancient Writings are Visible Once Again

Scientists at Oxford University have made a major breakthrough in their study of a large collection of Greek and Roman writings. Many of the documents known as the "Oxyrhynchus Papyri" were found at an ancient rubbish dump in central Egypt. The writing on these documents is meaningless to the naked eye as the papyrus has decayed, become worm-eaten and has also been blackened by the passage of time.

Using an infrared technique originally developed for use with satellite imaging, scientists are now able to view the original writing, which could lead to a 20 per cent increase in the number of great Greek and Roman works in existence. Thus far, works by Sophocles, Lucian, Euripides, Hesiod and others have been re-discovered. Additionally, scientists think they are likely to find lost Christian gospels, the originals of which were written around the time of the earliest books of the New Testament.

The full story is available here.

Hmmm. Do you suppose this same infrared technique could be used on some of the documents down at the local courthouse?

Comments

[Chad Milliner]

The article cited above mentions in passing the following:
"Oxford academics have been working alongside infra-red specialists from Brigham Young University, Utah. Their operation is likely to increase the number of great literary works fully or partially surviving from the ancient Greek world by up to a fifth. It could easily double the surviving body of lesser work - the pulp fiction and sitcoms of the day."

It was a British newspaper article, so obviously the reporter was emphasizing the role that the British scholars were making. So here is a link to information on the BYU side of the equation:
http://cpart.byu.edu/about.php