One panellist recalls an unnamed Spanish galleon said to have carried accounts of Maya writing and a lexicon translating it into period Spanish. The recollection is tentative, and the survival of the documents is doubted. The conversation turns to imaging fragile books without physically opening them and using computers to reconstruct their contents. CT is suggested as the relevant method after MRI is mentioned, but the participants acknowledge that archaeology and scanner technology lie outside their close expertise. The point of interest is the information an intact manuscript could preserve, even when handling it directly would destroy it.
Notable Point · 2:51:56-2:56:15
Lost manuscripts and reading fragile books without opening them
An uncertain recollection of a galleon's manuscript cargo leads to a discussion of imaging books that would disintegrate if opened.