Textual scholars and imaging scientists, working together, provide enhanced image information making accurate translation more possible. Using remote sensing, network transmission, digital enhancement, color manipulation and current storage and output technology the investigators provide maximum, image information for the accurate translation of the degraded documents.

Our concentration has been on developing application systems, using available and/or created hardware and software, to enhance degraded, disintegrating and overwritten textual documents to a level of readability for translation scholars.

Most of our research has been with documents written on clay, papyrus or vellum. The original material is incredibly fragile. Some of the material consists of long, slightly damaged scrolls while other material consists of collections of thousands of tiny pieces of documents.

Initial enhancement techniques included high resolution scanning on a drum scanner or flat bed scanner. Magneto-optical discs were used to store images scanned at 600 dpi. Initially, high pass filters were applied to the captured images providing a base for later applications.

Selected areas were enhanced using a variety of histogram adjustments, RGB manipulations, adjusting threshold levels, applying equalizing kernels, and sharpening filters as well as custom kernels and plug-in tools that were written for inside and outside edge detection and skeletonization of degraded characters.

We enhanced an infrared image of the Targum of Job by adjusting color variations and working with color hue and saturation as well as applications of color variation adjustments of midtones and highlights. We enhanced a section of the Scroll of Job and were able to enhance unreadable edges and fragments and electronically move one large fragment around and fit it into its proper place adding, another segment available to translators.

Recently, we scanned in a color section of the Temple Scroll. Using, the Xerox in-house Unix system, we were able to apply a much broader range of filters and digital techniques. In this application, black degraded text was extracted from the colored background using a visual color-space transformation. New areas of text, 2000 years old can now be read. Several areas were revealed that indicated an overwritten line or lines possibly from wet vellum rolled up and causing a transferring of text from one area to another, In this case, both lines now have been read.

In working, with the Xerox Digital Imaging Technology Center, we were able to apply greater sharpening techniques and a much broader array of color and achromatic adjustments.

Current research is with burned papyrus scroll documents found in Petra, Jordan. These were high resolution scanned on to CD disks at Kodak thus providing useful storage with long lasting fidelity.

Applying both color and achromatic techniques, these images have been enhanced revealing fragments of Greek cursive text.

Research efforts are now concentrating on applications of IR, UV and visible techniques using film and Kodak digital cameras and filters to bring out maximum data for further enhancement. Fluorescence caused by application of UV light has brought out degraded text characters that we are capturing for digital manipulation.