Scientists used AI to read black ink on blackened papyrus — it should have been impossible

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius carbonized hundreds of papyrus scrolls inside a villa at Herculaneum nearly 2,000 years ago. Because physically unrolling them would destroy them, most remained ...

Sideprojects on MSN·Sep 29

Watch scientists decipher burned scrolls without unrolling them

nature.com·Sep 22

Scientists burn their own scrolls to help read 2,000-year-old Herculaneum papyri

Lead in the ink of Herculaneum scrolls creates a strong X-ray signal, helping AI read texts without opening the fragile papyri.

archaeologymag·Sep 18

To Read 2,000-Year-Old Burned Papyrus Scrolls, Scientists Make And Burn Their Own

Douglas Seiler painstakingly sourced papyrus and reed pens from Egypt and traditional lampblack ink from Japan, then paid some high school students to ...

Eurasia Review·Sep 16

This book has been rolled shut since 79 A.D. A college kid and an AI read it without opening it.

Vesuvius buried a library in 79 A.D. and turned 1,800 books into charcoal. Open one, and it crumbles. This June, friend, scientists read an entire scroll without touching it. A 21-year-old found the...

Komando.com·Aug 30

AI brings ancient carbonized papyrus back to life—historians left speechless

Beneath the Ashes: The Hidden Library of Herculaneum Over 2,000 years ago, the personal library of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus—father-in-law to Julius Caesar—was entombed beneath mudflows with...

Futura-Sciences on MSN·Jul 23

Scientists burned their own papyrus to crack the code hidden in Vesuvius scrolls

Douglas Seiler rolled up a sheet of fresh papyrus, sealed it inside a steel container with almost no oxygen, and burned it in a furnace until it carbonized into something close to what Mount Vesuvius...

Morning Overview on MSN·Sep 28

Scientists re-created the Herculaneum scrolls. They found a clue to decoding hidden text

By re-creating carbonized scrolls, researchers found lead-based ink is easier to detect with X-rays, potentially helping AI reveal texts in Herculaneum scrolls.

CNN on MSN·Sep 22

Lithium Batteries May Help Unravel Mystery of Ancient Papyrus Scrolls

But Daugherty never imagined that his algorithm could serve a very different purpose: helping to decipher a trove of fragile papyrus scrolls. Ancient scholars inscribed these scrolls before the ...

National Institute of Standards and Technology·Sep 17

We may soon be able to read long-lost ancient scrolls damaged by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

X-ray technology and artificial intelligence—along with the discovery of lead in the ink of fragments from a collection of ancient Roman scrolls—could soon help scientists read long-lost texts buried...

Phys.org on MSN·Sep 16

AI is pulling lost epics from charred scrolls that Vesuvius buried

Researchers have read an entire rolled Herculaneum papyrus scroll end to end using AI, recovering Greek text from layers of papyrus carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. The scroll,...

Morning Overview on MSN·Jul 26

Vesuvius revisited: a new story of the day the world exploded

It was one of history’s most dramatic moments—but the eruption of Mount Vesuvius wasn’t a single disaster. Recent evidence reveals how three settlements faced three distinct fates, reshaping our ...

National Geographic·Jul 23

Scientists burned their own scrolls to unlock a 2,000-year-old mystery

Scientists discovered that tiny amounts of lead in ancient ink can make writing inside burned papyrus scrolls stand out dramatically in X-ray scans. The technique could help unlock lost Greek and ...

Science Daily·Sep 25

Watch scientists decipher burnt scrolls without unrolling them

By making and burning their own papyrus, researchers have come up with a method that might help to read unopened ancient scrolls from Herculaneum.

Nature·Sep 21

Tech Advances Could Unlock Mt. Vesuvius Scroll Secrets

X-ray technology and artificial intelligence — along with the discovery of lead in the ink of fragments of a collection of ancient Roman scrolls — ...

Mirage News·Sep 16

Photo: AI unfurls an ancient scroll

In June, Italian researchers announced that they had used artificial intelligence to virtually unfurl and interpret a papyrus scroll that was burnt to a crisp during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius ...

Reason on MSN·Sep 6

Archaeologists use AI to reconstruct Pompeii victim’s face and final moments

AI-generated image shows a man ducking for cover, with a flaming Mount Vesuvius in the background Archaeologists and researchers at the ancient Roman site of Pompeii have used artificial intelligence...

MSN·Jul 24

AI has read a sealed Herculaneum scroll charred by Vesuvius for the first time

Researchers have for the first time virtually unwrapped and read an entire sealed Herculaneum papyrus scroll, carbonized nearly two thousand years ago when Mount Vesuvius buried the ancient Roman...

MSN·Jul 5