The usual, Artificial intelligence When big data Although hinting at futuristic applications such as self-driving cars and advanced financial risk assessment, the technology has proven its potential in analyzes of the distant past. therefore, digitalization Large historical archives open the door to in-depth review of vast amounts of documents that researchers were previously unable to perform. Arguably one of the most extensive archives of its kind is the General Archive of the Indies (AGI, by its Spanish initials) hosted by the Spanish city of Seville, which meticulously documents Spain’s relationship with the American colonies. doing. , and its discoverer’s journey. 80 million handwritten pages. These numbers are naturally out of reach for traditional analysis, as only 10% of the documents have been examined so far. But artificial intelligence quickly chewed them up, providing startling insights that could change the history as we know it.
This artificial intelligence project began with Enrique Vida, a physicist working at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (University of Sciences, Valencia), who came up with the idea of developing software that could identify words in ancient manuscripts. Besides the different handwriting styles, the main challenge is the change in orthography over the centuries. That was one of the main reasons for getting historians involved. Vidal, who heads the Research Center for Pattern Recognition and Human Language Technologies (PRHLT), reached out to paleologist Carlos Alonso. artificial intelligence software what they recently announced.
After an initial analysis of 514 documents as handwritten and orthographic samples, Carabela processed 60,000 digitized records from AGI and 90,000 records from the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Cádiz (Cádiz Regional Archive). . The software already provides 85% accuracy for keywords searched considering other terms within the same semantic field, regardless of spelling. So when they typed the term “boat” other words like “galleon” and “ship” were also parsed thanks to artificial intelligence. This particular survey uncovered 150 unprecedented shipwrecks. But the most amazing discovery was yet to come. They then decided to enter the term “austral”, a search that yielded unexpected results. Suddenly an old text from a Jesuit priest points out the location of Australia and the islands around it, and he, a sailor, mentions that Vaes de Torres and Quirós had discovered them a century before him. Their journey dates back to his 1606, more than half a century before James Cook claimed the continent for the British Empire.
AI reveals new Nazca geoglyphs
For years, giant human figures in the Nazca desert have piqued the interest of researchers. Their gigantic scale can only be seen from the air, as if their unknown authors painted them to honor their gods. I developed an artificial intelligence software that searches for glyphs from images. That’s how they tracked down a hitherto unknown humanoid figure, later confirmed by direct visits to the site.The next step is to improve efficiency. AI We developed the software using laser mapping (LIDAR). This is technology that has already located lost cities in the Amazon rainforest.
sauce: ABC, science news
