As reported by Discovery News, a team of scientists aims to gain access to the early Iraqi writing artifacts now housed at the National Museum in Badgad but no longer available for public viewing due to security concerns.  Among the items to be scanned and reproduced are some of the earliest known written documents in existence.

Those behind the project say that they favor the additive fabrication technology over silicon or latex casts because AF allows them to make perfect replicas of the original cuneiforms without ever coming into direct physical contact with the fragile clay writings.

"The tablets were written on the front, back and sides, thus you need to rotate them to properly read the text," according to Paola Negri, an Italian engineer working on the project.  "It is something not so easy to do with two-dimensional photography," he told Discovery News.

The work, itself, is reminiscent of the kind of work that Owings Mills, MD-based Direct Dimensions has undertaken for other significant preservation projects in the United States.  Michael Raphael, president and chief engineer of Direct Dimensions, is an active member in the Society of Manufacturing Engineers rapid prototyping community.