The Elamite Levels at Susa and their Chronological Significance

Abstract

of large quantities of pottery or flints, the problems involved in coding complicated objects limited its use. She quoted the French work on a Fichier mecanographique which had attempted to computerize bronze implements. The relatively simple shapes of tools had been successfully dealt with and the results had been published (Jean Deshayes: Les outils de bronze de l'Indus au Danube (IVe au lie millinaire, Paris i960). Axes, however, had produced too many three-dimensional variations, and could not be represented by a simple outline drawing. Subtleties which cannot be coded will escape the computer. The attempt to produce a Fichier to deal with cylinder seals had also run into difficulties. The computer can be used as a sorter but not as substitute for intuition and aesthetic judgment. The question arose whether the computer could be used for establishing criteria for the identification of forgeries. Mrs. Lourie pointed out that an exa t copy of a genuine object would not be differentiated from the original by the computer.