Stromer D, Christlein V, Martindale C, Zippert P, Haltenberger E, Hausotte T, Maier A (2018)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2018
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Book Volume: 8
Pages Range: 15335
Journal Issue: 1
URI: https://www5.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/Forschung/Publikationen/2018/Stromer18-BTS.pdf
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-33685-4
Severely damaged historical documents are extremely fragile. In many cases, their secrets remain concealed beneath their cover. Recently, non-invasive digitization approaches based on 3-D scanning have demonstrated the ability to recover single pages or letters without the need to open the manuscripts. This can even be achieved using conventional micro-CTs without the need for synchrotron hardware. However, not all manuscripts may be suited for such techniques due to their material and X-ray properties. In order to recommend which manuscripts and which inks are best suited for such a process, we investigate six inks that were commonly used in ancient times: malachite, three types of iron gall, Tyrian purple, and buckthorn. Image contrast is explored over the complete pipeline, from the X-ray CT scan and page extraction to the virtual flattening of the page image. We demonstrate, that all inks containing metallic particles are visible in the output, a decrease of the X-ray energy enhances the readability, and that the visibility highly depends on the X-ray attenuation of the ink’s metallic ingredients and their concentration. Based on these observations, we give recommendations on how to select the appropriate imaging parameters.
APA:
Stromer, D., Christlein, V., Martindale, C., Zippert, P., Haltenberger, E., Hausotte, T., & Maier, A. (2018). Browsing through sealed historical manuscripts by using 3-D computed tomography with low-brilliance X-ray sources. Scientific Reports, 8(1), 15335. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33685-4
MLA:
Stromer, Daniel, et al. "Browsing through sealed historical manuscripts by using 3-D computed tomography with low-brilliance X-ray sources." Scientific Reports 8.1 (2018): 15335.
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