Reading Closed Cuneiform Tablets Using High-Resolution Computed Tomography
2020–2025
RFA09
Photo: Karsten Helmholz
An enveloped cuneiform clay tablet inside the Tungsten chamber of ENCI.
Photo: Karsten Helmholz
Heavy lifting: Overall, the device weighs about 430 kg and the dimensions are 107 x 142 x 55 cm (LxHxW). Here, the brand new device is being delivered to the premises of the Cluster for the first time.
Photo: Karsten Helmholz
3D-printed sample holder with a kinematic mount for convenient and protective handling; it is designed to hold samples measuring up to 10 x 20 x 5 cm in size.
Photo: Karsten Helmholz
The electronic rack is the core of the CT scanner, housing 20 TB of data storage and a substantial computing capacity.
Photo: Karsten Helmholz
The sample holder is mounted on a stage that can be rotated and moved in three directions. Surrounding the set-up is a Tungsten chamber providing shielding for the X-rays.
Photo: Karsten Helmholz
Microfocus X-ray tube specialised for high-resolution scans of thick material, such as cuneiform tablets.
Photo: Karsten Helmholz
ENCI and the team running it in the laboratory of the Cluster. From left to right: Sebastian Bosch (Manager of instrumental analytics at the CSMC laboratory), Samaneh Ehteram (Research associate at CSMC/DESY), Patrik Wiljes (Mechatronics engineer at DESY), Christian Schroer (Principal Investigator of RFA09), Andreas Schropp (Senior scientist at DESY), Philipp Paetzold (Master student at UHH/DESY), Ralph Döhrmann (Senior engineer at DESY).
Photo: Andreas Schropp
February 2024: ENCI arrives at the Louvre in Paris.
Photo: Andreas Schropp
The museum has one of the largest collection of ancient clay tablets in the world.
Photo: Véronique Pataï
The ENCI team during the measurements in the basement of the museum.
Photo: Andreas Schropp
Samaneh Etheram with a virtual reconstruction of one of the clay tablets.
Photo: Andreas Schropp
The ENCI team in the ancient collection of the museum.
One of the earliest forms of writing are imprints in clay, developed more than 5000 years ago by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia and used all around the Near East. Since the middle of the third millennium BCE, people send each other letters. They tell of kings and their ruling, of merchants and their trade, as well as of the mundane and private life of families and of spouses. In order to protect both the confidentiality of the text and the material integrity of the tablets on their journey through mountains and the desert, they were wrapped in a clay envelope, on which sender and recipient were written. The sender signed the letter by impressing his artistic seal. To read the message, the envelope had to be broken and with it, the artistic seal.
Such opened letters then were kept in archives, where they are found today. About a million clay tablets have survived to this day. However, sometimes a letter did not reach its recipient and remained in its clay envelope for thousands of years. To open it would destroy the seal impression and bears the risk of also breaking the letter.
Non-invasive, virtual unpacking of enclosed cuneiform
In this project, we develop, build, and apply a portable high-resolution X-ray tomographic scanner for cuneiform letters and other encased tablets, which makes it possible to read sealed cuneiform texts without breaking the envelope or alter the artefact in any way. ‘ENCI’ (Extracting Non-Destructively Cuneiform Inscriptions) is used in archives and museums around the world for imaging the interior of cuneiform letters and other artefacts. The main technical challenge is to reconcile the physical limitations of X-ray imaging with practical boundary conditions imposed by work in museums and archives, since it is not possible to take the objects out of the collections. This includes the development of special feature extraction and visualization tools, including 3D printing of replica. The new instrument is employed for documenting ancient cuneiform letters, including those stored in the Louvre in Paris, and will be used in the future for systematic studies in museums and archives around the world.
Clay envelope, Louvre Museum No. Ao8295: The envelope (top) and the letter contained in the envolope (bottom).
People
Project lead: Christian G. Schroer, Cécile Michel, Stephan Olbrich
Research Associates: Samaneh Ehteram, Andreas Beckert