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A Real Life Challenge


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#1 steve6375

steve6375

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Posted 26 July 2011 - 05:39 PM

Oxford University want you to transcribe some ancient papyri. These are REAL papyri about 1000+ years old

Ancient Lives is a collaboration between a diverse collection of Oxford Papyrologists and Researchers, The Imaging Papyri Project, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project, the Egypt Exploration Society and the other institutions.

The papyri belong to the Egypt Exploration Society and their texts will eventually be published and numbered in Society's Greco-Roman Memoirs series in the volumes entitled The Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

Click here for the full story of how these papyri were discovered.

All you have to do is match the characters on each papyrus with the characters on a keyboard (use the pictures of each character in the right-hand lower keyboard section to help you by hovering over the keyboard letters). Click on a character's centre on the papyrus and then choose a character on the keyboard. In this way you can help transcribe all the ancient writings.

The software will collate all user data and statistically weight it. The principle is that if most people say a letter is Omega then it probably is an Omega. Then scholars can translate the transcribed text very easily. Sometimes they get a shopping list and sometimes previously unknown verse by a famous poet!

Start off with the Tutorial
. The site might be a bit slow as it is very popular and has just been publicised on UK Radio and TV.

If you get an unreadable scrap - just click Next - some papyri are very good and complete.

Put your brains to good use!










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