Developing Methods in High Resolution 3D Image Capture for Ancient Tablets

This summer I hope to provide updates on work being conducted by Kevin Pluta who is investigating and developing methods for reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), specifically tied to inscribed clay tablets.  His work, building off of work being done at the Oriental Institute, USC, and Leuven, will be mobile and require limited space, making the tools attractive for capturing data in a variety of contexts.  In addition to visible light, Pluta intends to investigate imaging in other spectra, resulting in a toolkit that will be portable and flexible for a variety of needs.  His work holds tremendous potential to the College of Charleston for increasing the research capabilities, undergraduate research opportunities, and servicing these opportunities to other researchers.  Combined with other informatic initiatives being drawn off the Avkat Project, Pluta’s imaging techniques have high potential for improving the informatics products under development at the College of Charleston.