BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA— Mike Toth, an expert in imaging techniques, is working with archaeologists, physicists, and engineers to develop ways to find and read the texts written on the layers of ancient papyri in cartonnage, coffins made for middle-class Egyptians.
In the past, researchers dismantled the ancient coffins and funerary masks, and washed the paint, plaster, and gesso off the papyri to look for rare texts in the layers. “Apart from destroying a mummy, washing away is a reckless way to deal with something where the littlest thing can be really interesting,” said Derin McLeod of the University of California, Berkeley's Tebtunis Center. Multi-spectral imaging, X-ray phase contrast, and fluorescence offer new ways to look for signs of ink, and possibly even read the texts
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