Computer Reveals Stone Tablet "Handwriting"

ewenc writes "A computer technique can tell the difference between ancient Greek inscriptions created by different artisans, a feat that ordinarily consumes years of human scholarship, reports New Scientist. A team of Greek computer scientists created the program after a scholar challenged them to attribute 24 inscriptions to their rightful cutter. The researchers scanned the tablets and constructed an average shape for several Greek letters in every tablet. After comparing the average letters between different tablets, they correctly attributed the inscriptions to six stone-cutters."

Comments

Re:A fine new era for classics

[icebike]

Bringing it slightly back On Topic, this has nothing to do with translation of already readable stone inscriptions.

Its about determining which hammer and chisel jockey was involved in translating the "written on paper" to the "carved in stone".

This is akin to determining if Margret typed your manuscript or if it was Walter.

Nothing at all about recovering last works or determining if you have risen to the status of a classic author.

So, don't expect any rush of visitors to your department any time soon.