Image to interpretation : towards an intelligent system to aid historians in the reading of the Vindolanda texts
The ink and stylus tablets discovered at the Roman Fort of Vindolanda have provided a unique resource for scholars of ancient history. However, the stylus tablets in particular have proved extremely difficult to read. The aim of this thesis is to explore the extent to which techniques from Artificial Intelligence can be used to develop a system that could aid historians in reading the stylus texts. This system would utilise image processing techniques that have been developed in Engineering Science to analyse the stylus tablets, whilst incorporating knowledge elicited from experts working on the texts, to propagate possible suggestions of the text contained within the tablets. This thesis reports on what appears to be the first system developed to aid experts in the process of reading an ancient document. There has been little previous research carried out to see how papyrologists actually carry out their task. This thesis studies closely how experts working with primary sources, such as the Vindolanda Texts, operate. Using Knowledge Elicitation Techniques, a model is proposed for how they read a text. Information regarding the letter forms and language used at Vindolanda is collated, A corpus of annotated
Terras, Melissa M.
Artificial intelligence ; Research
Image to interpretation : towards an intelligent system to aid historians in the reading of the Vindolanda texts. The ink and stylus tablets discovered at the Roman Fort of Vindolanda have provided a unique resource for scholars of ancient history. However, the stylus tablets in particular have proved extremely difficult to read. The aim of this thesis is to explore the extent to which techniques from Artificial Intelligence can be used to develop a system that could aid historians in reading the stylus texts. This system would utilise image processing techniques that have been developed in Engineering Science to analyse the stylus tablets, whilst incorporating knowledge elicited from experts working on the texts, to propagate possible suggestions of the text contained within the tablets. This thesis reports on what appears to be the first system developed to aid experts in the process of reading an ancient document. There has been little previous research carried out to see how papyrologists actually carry out their task. This thesis studies closely how experts working with primary sources, such as the Vindolanda Texts, operate. Using Knowledge Elicitation Techniques, a model is proposed for how they read a text. Information regarding the letter forms and language used at Vindolanda is collated, A corpus of annotated
image interpretation towards intelligent system aid historians read text tablet discover roman fort provide_unique resource scholar ancient_history however tablet particular prove extremely_difficult read aim_explore extent technique artificial_intelligence use develop system_could aid historian read text system would utilise image processing technique develop engineering science analyse tablet whilst incorporate knowledge elicit expert work text propagate possible suggestion text_contain within tablet report appear first system_develop aid expert process read ancient_document little previous carry see actually carry task study closely expert work primary_source texts operate using knowledge elicitation techniques model_propose read_text information_regard letter form language_use collate corpus annotate