Particle Accelerator Reveals Ancient Greek Medical Text Beneath Religious Psalms on Parchment

Gizmodo ^ | 13 March 2018 | Ryan F. Mandelbaum

[blueplum]

If you’re a history buff, you might not know much particle physics. But the two fields share more in common than you’d think. X-rays from a high-energy lab have revealed ancient Greek medical texts that had been stripped and covered with religious writing. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have long been using high-powered x-rays at their Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) to analyze ancient texts. This week, they’ll be revealing the text beneath 10th-century psalms from the St. Catherine’s Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula. The hidden words were a translation of writings by the ancient Greek doctor Galen.

[Pelham]

parchment is probably not considered paper... it’s animal skin, which is why it’s possible to scrape and reuse it

[Pelham]

I was trying to think of that word