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BBC News
05-02-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Scientists look inside burnt scroll for first time in 2,000 years
Scientists have been able to read a badly burnt ancient Roman scroll for the first time in 2,000 scroll was found in the Roman town of Herculaneum and was burnt by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD, making it too fragile to ever be physically now, scientists have used a combination of X-ray scans and artificial intelligence to open it 'virtually', revealing its hidden scientists say that more time and work are needed to be able to read the scroll properly, but that the results so far have been very exciting. "We're confident we will be able to read pretty much the whole scroll in its entirety, and it's the first time we've really been able to say that with high confidence," said Stephen Parsons, project lead for the Vesuvius Challenge - an international competition attempting to read the Herculaneum team has already been able to read a few words of the scroll, which they think is a work of philosophy - the study of questioning the world around be able to read the scroll, the scientists took it to Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, where it was placed inside a huge machine called a it was hit with a powerful X-ray beam that can see through the scroll without damaging it."It can see things on the scale of a few thousandths of a millimetre," explained Adrian Mancuso, director of physical sciences at Diamond. These X-ray images were then uploaded to a computer to create a 3D model of the that, artificial intelligence is used to help identify the ink on the scroll, which is easier said than done, as both the papyrus paper and ink are made from carbon - making it difficult to tell them the AI hunts for the tiniest signs that ink might be there, then the ink is painted on digitally, bringing the letters to light."We can tell the entire scroll is full of text," said Stephen Parsons."Now we can work on making it show up more clearly. We're going to go from a handful of words to really substantial passages."The scientists are hoping this technique can be used on other burnt Herculaneum scrolls to help them discover more about what life was like for people living at that time.
The Independent
05-02-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Badly burnt scroll digitally unwrapped to provide first look in 2,000 years
A badly burnt Roman scroll destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius has been 'unwrapped' for the first time in 2,000 years by using AI. The document, which looks like a lump of charcoal, was charred by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD and was too fragile to ever be physically opened. But artificial intelligence and X-ray imaging have now been used to virtually unfurl it, revealing rows and columns of text believed to be Greek philosophy. "We're confident we will be able to read pretty much the whole scroll in its entirety, and it's the first time we've really been able to say that with high confidence," Vesuvius Challenge lead Stephen Parsons said. Hundreds of carbonised scrolls have been discovered in Herculaneum, a Roman town just 20km (12 miles) north of its more famous neighbour Pompeii, over the years. The scroll was placed in a specially made case and taken to Diamond Light Source, a gigantic high intensity X-ray facility, in Oxfordshire. Inside this huge machine, which is called a synchrotron, electrons were accelerated to almost the speed of light to produce a powerful X-ray beam that could probe the scroll without damaging it. "It can see things on the scale of a few thousandths of a millimetre," Adrian Mancuso, director of physical sciences at Diamond, told the BBC. The scan was then used to create a 3D reconstruction, with AI used to detect ink, which is then painted on digitally to reveal text. Last year, a Vesuvius Challenge research team managed to read about 5 per cent of another Herculaneum scroll. The subject was Greek Epicurean philosophy, which teaches that fulfilment can be found through the pleasure of everyday things. The University of Oxford's Bodleian Library holds several of the scrolls. Thought to be unreadable, they had been left untouched for decades. Nicole Gilroy, who oversees the scrolls' care at Oxford's Bodleian Library, said: 'I just love that connection with whoever collected them, whoever wrote them, whoever rolled those scrolls up and put them on the shelves. 'There's a real human aspect to it that I just think is really precious.'
