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Scientists Use X-Rays and AI to Read Ancient Scrolls
Confirmed
In Short: Researchers are employing X-ray scans and artificial intelligence to decipher carbonized papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum without physically unrolling them.
Researchers are developing a new method to read ancient scrolls from Herculaneum, a city destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The scrolls, carbonized by volcanic gas, have long been considered unreadable due to their fragile state.
The Vesuvius Challenge, an ongoing project, combines digital unwrapping with machine learning to decipher these badly charred scrolls. Scientists have found that lead in the ink creates a strong X-ray signal, making it easier to identify and read certain scrolls.
In a recent study, researchers created model papyrus scrolls, charred them, and used X-ray scans to validate a screening method for scrolls written in lead-based ink. This approach could help identify the most promising scrolls for further analysis.
Douglas Seiler, a retired inventor, adapted a software program originally used for lithium-ion batteries to digitally unwrap the scrolls. He noted, “With lead in the ink, you would get a huge friggin’ signature, so you really need to be looking for scrolls with lead in them.”
The scrolls, excavated in the 1700s, were believed to be part of a personal library of an Epicurean philosopher named Philodemus. Despite their fragility, researchers hope this new method will allow them to read the words of ancient people without damaging the scrolls.
What's confirmed
- “With lead in the ink, you would get a huge friggin’ signature, so you really need to be looking for scrolls with lead in them,” said Douglas Seiler, co-author of the study and a retired inventor.
What's still developing
- Ash and rock covered the town near modern Naples, Italy, along with a large library of papyrus scrolls.
- Extreme heat carbonized the scrolls, leaving fragile blackened objects.
- More than 1,800 scrolls and fragments from the library still exist.
- Researchers have struggled to read many scrolls because their ink and papyrus both contain carbon.
- As previously reported, the ancient Roman resort town of Pompeii wasn’t the only city destroyed in the catastrophic 79 AD eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
- Brent Seales’ lab at the University of Kentucky has been working on deciphering the Herculaneum scrolls for many years.
- He employs a different method of “virtually unrolling” damaged scrolls, which he used in 2016 to “open” a scroll found on the western shore of the Dead Sea, revealing the first few verses from the book of Leviticus.
- The so-called En Gedi scroll was recovered from the ark of an ancient synagogue destroyed by fire around 600 CE.