It's an interesting story. Even before 9/11, the tablet collection was the subject of debates on ethics in archaeological circles. Such tablets were sometimes from private collectors and probably obtained from looters on the black market. Reading them (the insides could be x-rayed ... tomography) was thought to increase the market value and so make the looting problem worse. But other scholars argued the importance of knowing the inscriptions despite lack of provenance. The collection here draws scholars from around the world. But then came 9/11. Antiquities like this are thought by some to be involved in money laundering and funding of terrorist organizations. Whether that is true or not I don't know, but the government here takes it seriously. Hence, there is movement to scan everything and "repatriate" the collection. It's a question of preserving access to information.
Richard On Dec 14, 2012, at 10:39 AM, Boaz Shaanan wrote: > But why? I thought the idea emanating from the thread was to go the other way > around for long time archival, i.e. computer --> Sumerian (or Babylonian) > clay. > > Boaz > > > Boaz Shaanan, Ph.D. > Dept. of Life Sciences > Ben-Gurion University of the Negev > Beer-Sheva 84105 > Israel > > E-mail: bshaa...@bgu.ac.il > Phone: 972-8-647-2220 Skype: boaz.shaanan > Fax: 972-8-647-2992 or 972-8-646-1710 > > > > > > ________________________________________ > From: CCP4 bulletin board [CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK] on behalf of Richard > Gillilan [r...@cornell.edu] > Sent: Friday, December 14, 2012 5:20 PM > To: CCP4BB@JISCMAIL.AC.UK > Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] archival memory? > > This is too funny. My wife's new job is scanning Sumerian clay tablets into > computer. I kid you not. > > On Dec 12, 2012, at 5:35 PM, Laura Spagnolo wrote: > >> I would definitely go for babylonian clay... >> >> >> >> On Dec 12, 2012, at 10:31 PM, Adrian Goldman wrote: >> >>> I say write them out onto acid-free paper: should be good for at least 300 >>> years without active management, if there is no fire. If that doesn't >>> work, I believe babylonian clay tablets have an even longer expected life >>> time…. >>> >>> Dale, I must say I am impressed… I gave up after the exabyte to DAT >>> transition, and decided that if I really wanted to get data sets from (my) >>> old projects, it would be easier to regrow the crystals… >>> >>> Adrian >>> >>> >>> On 13 Dec 2012, at 00:22, Dale Tronrud wrote: >>> >>>> I don't believe there is a solution that does not involve active >>>> management. You can't write your data and pick up those media 25 >>>> years later and expect to get your data back -- not without some >>>> heroic effort involving the construction of your own hardware. >>>> >>>> I have data from Brian Matthews' lab going back to the mid-1970's >>>> and those data started life on 7-track mag tapes. I've moved them >>>> from there to 9-track 1600 bpi tapes, to 9-track 6250 bpi tapes, to >>>> just about every density of Exabyte tape, to DVD, and most recently >>>> to external magnetic hard drives (each with USB, Firewire, and eSATA >>>> interfaces). The hard drives are about five years old and so far >>>> are holding up. Last time I checked I could still read the 10 year >>>> old DVD's. I'm having real trouble reading Exabyte tapes. >>>> >>>> Write your data to some medium that you expect to last for at least >>>> five years but anticipate that you will then have to move them to >>>> something else. >>>> >>>> Instead of spending time working on the 100 year solution you should >>>> spend your time annotating your data so that someone other than you >>>> can figure out what it is. Lack of annotation and editing is the >>>> biggest problem with old data. >>>> >>>> Dale Tronrud >>>> >>>> P.S. If someone needs the intensities for heavy atom derivatives of >>>> Thermolysin written in VENUS format, I'm your man. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On 12/12/2012 1:57 PM, Richard Gillilan wrote: >>>>> Better option? Certainly not TAPE or electromechanical disk drive. CD's >>>>> and DVD's don't last nearly that long and James Holton has pointed out. >>>>> >>>>> I suppose there might be a "cloud" solution where you rely upon data just >>>>> floating around out there in cyberspace with a life of its own. >>>>> >>>>> Richard >>>>> >>>>> On Dec 12, 2012, at 4:41 PM, Dale Tronrud wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Good luck on your search in 100 years for a computer with a >>>>>> USB port. You will also need software that can read a FAT32 >>>>>> file system. >>>>>> >>>>>> Dale "Glad I didn't buy a lot of disk drives with Firewire" Tronrud >>>>>> >>>>>> On 12/12/2012 1:02 PM, Richard Gillilan wrote: >>>>>>> SanDisk advertises a "Memory Vault" disk for archival storage of photos >>>>>>> that they claim will last 100 years. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> (note: they do have a scheme for estimating lifetime of the memory, >>>>>>> Arrhenius Equation ... interesting. Check it out: >>>>>>> www.sandisk.com/products/usb/memory-vault/ and click the Chronolock >>>>>>> tab.). >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Has anyone here looked into this or seen similar products? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Richard Gillilan >>>>>>> MacCHESS >>>>>>> >>> >> >> Dr Laura Spagnolo >> Institute of Structural Molecular Biology >> University of Edinburgh >> Room 506, Darwin Building >> King's Buildings Campus >> Edinburgh EH9 3JR >> United Kingdom >> T: +44 (0)131 650 7066 >> F: +44 (0)131 650 8650 >> http://www.biology.ed.ac.uk/research/institutes/structure/homepage.php?id=lspagnolo >> laura.spagn...@ed.ac.uk >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> -- >> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in >> Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
