Multispectral imaging reveals biblical-period inscription unnoticed for half a century
Multispectral imaging reveals biblical-period inscription unnoticed for half a century
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Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin ,
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Anat Mendel-Geberovich ,
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Arie Shaus ,
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Barak Sober ,
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Michael Cordonsky,
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David Levin,
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Murray Moinester,
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Benjamin Sass,
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Eli Turkel,
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Eli Piasetzky ,
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Israel Finkelstein
Most surviving biblical period Hebrew inscriptions are
ostraca—ink-on-clay texts. They are poorly preserved and once unearthed,
fade rapidly. Therefore, proper and timely documentation of ostraca is
essential. Here we show a striking example of a hitherto invisible text
on the back side of an ostracon revealed via multispectral imaging. This
ostracon, found at the desert fortress of Arad and dated to ca. 600 BCE
(the eve of Judah’s destruction by Nebuchadnezzar), has been on display
for half a century. Its front side has been thoroughly studied, while
its back side was considered blank. Our research revealed three lines of
text on the supposedly blank side and four "new" lines on the front
side. Our results demonstrate the need for multispectral image
acquisition for both sides of all ancient ink ostraca. Moreover, in
certain cases we recommend employing multispectral techniques for
screening newly unearthed ceramic potsherds prior to disposal.
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