Overview
- Researchers used multispectral imaging to read hidden text in Codex H, a palimpsest that means reused parchment with older writing scrubbed.
- The team exploited mirror-image traces left by medieval re-inking, which modern sensors could isolate from later writing to reveal the lost words.
- The recovered pages include early chapter lists that differ from today’s divisions and about 100 corrections and notes from generations of readers.
- Codex H was broken up at the Megisti Lavra monastery in the 13th century, leaving fragments now kept in libraries in Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, and France.
- The three-year effort increased readable content by roughly 50% and produced a free digital edition, with a print volume planned.