[NHCOLL-L:475] Re: unrolling birch bark scrolls

[Doug Yanega]

Having been involved with someone trying to do scanning and restoration of
ancient Tibetan thankas, I have one idea which may at first sound
farfetched, but with the right equipment (maybe, admittedly, not at all
easy to get) it *should* work, in principle.
If the scrolls are not *absolutely* tightly wrapped - so there are several
mm of space above the inscribed surface - you could run a fiber optic lens
in the crevice without having to unroll the scroll at all. Scan the scroll
thoroughly, one thin "strip" at a time, and do a computer composite of the
images. True, that means a LOT of individual tiny images to superimpose,
and there will be some distortion, but the result may be far preferrable to
permanently damaging the scrolls.
How's that for lateral thinking? ;-)

Good luck,


Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521
phone: (909) 787-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
           http://insects.ucr.edu/staff/yanega.html
  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82