Gysembergh Lab

Research focus

ERC Consolidator Grant · 2024

PALimpsests: Artificial Intelligence applied to advanced imaging of recycled manuscripts from Northern Italy in the Early Middle Ages, to study their production and use within a sustainable ecology

PALAI will study palimpsests using advanced imaging and artificial intelligence. Palimpsests, or recycled manuscripts, especially those from Northern Italy in the early Middle Ages, are known as a treasure trove of lost texts. The reuse of ancient manuscripts shaped the scene upon which the Carolingian renaissance emerged, and is thus a missing link between classical Antiquity and the first period of major cultural renewal in the Middle Ages throughout the West. PALAI proposes to investigate where the recycled manuscripts came from, how they were selected and prepared for reuse, and what their reuse tells us about scribal communities’ worldviews. Doing so requires multispectral and XRF…

From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.