Concrete Abstractions: Ancient Texts As Artifacts And The Future Of Their Documentation And Distribution In The Digital Age

This chapter discusses the accomplishment of the vision both in terms of imaging technologies and implementation of optimal distribution of the images. It considers some of the most important and most recent imaging technologies that significantly improve the reading, analysis, reconstruction and decipherment of ancient texts and how their images can be effectively and intuitively distributed over the internet, using InscriptiFact as a model. The chapter explains the implementation in an online context of some of the most important viewing features and real-time functionalities that facilitate better overall understanding of ancient texts. An increasing number of scholars are learning advanced image documentation techniques and considering them fundamental to research and study of a wide range of ancient texts. Students, even at the undergraduate level, are learning image documentation techniques and facilitating scholarly study of texts and artifacts in ways that have never been previously available. Keywords: ancient texts; artifacts; imaging technologies; InscriptiFact