ICRA
                   INSTITUTE FOR COMPUTER-ASSISTED RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY

World Heritage - Cuneiform Tablet Translation (from 2008)

The project's aim is the safeguarding and protection of the antique cuneiform tablets and the historic knowledge of the first high cultures of mankind. In these times of unrest where the basis of the cultural heritage of humankind is destroyed (i.e. Palmyra, Syria), we feel an obligation to put such a project into being.

By using the most advanced technologies, we will try to make all antique cuneiform texts and objects available for all interested parties. This serves to protect and safeguard the world's cultural heritage of cuneiform tablets and its associated knowledge created by the first advanced cultures of humankind. The scope of this project is as follows: 

  • Acquisition of all known and published cuneiform texts (from excavations, in museums, etc.).
  • Use of 3D scanning technology.
  • Content translation of the cuneiform texts by computer with a high precision of objectivity, without any political or religious interpretations of individual interpreters.
  • 3D printing of the most important 10‘000 objects (protection from loss) with a safe deposit in a Swiss Alps bunker system.
  • Availability of access to the database information for all interested parties via the Internet.
 

Highly valuable information about the history of mankind can be achieved by the use of computer technology and its associated historic correlations.

 

Knowledge of the first advanced cultures of mankind will help us to understand correlations over a large time frame thereby permitting us draw intelligent conclusions about questions concerning mankind (such as climate change).

We are grateful to Dr. Oskar Kaelin for his vision for making this project a reality.