Researchers Use AI to Read Closed Herculaneum Scroll for First Time
The breakthrough could help decipher hundreds more manuscripts, and the Vesuvius Challenge is offering a $1 million prize for the next full reading.
- On Thursday, researchers announced the first complete reading of a carbonized Herculaneum scroll using artificial intelligence and particle accelerator imaging, unlocking text torched nearly 2,000 years ago during the Mount Vesuvius eruption.
- Ancient scrolls buried by the Mount Vesuvius eruption remained unreadable for centuries because they are so fragile they fall apart at the touch, forcing researchers to previously rely on destructive unwrapping methods.
- Using high-resolution scans and computational techniques, researchers now 'virtually unwrap' charred papyrus layers to detect ink without physical contact, producing about 140 columns of new text in the last 24 hours.
- Federica Nicolardi, lead papyrologist for the Vesuvius Challenge, presented 70 columns of 'On Vices, Book 1,' attributed to the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, revealing classical perspectives on ethics and human behaviour.
- With more than 600 unopened scrolls remaining, the Vesuvius Challenge has offered a $1 million prize to the first team to read another scroll in full, accelerating the decipherment of this lost classical library.
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A roll of burned and charred papyrus when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago was virtually unwrapped and partially deciphered with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).
Researchers have, for the first time, managed to fully decipher and read the entire contents of the Herculaneum Scroll, a document that solidified into a charred, unbreakable mass during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, using artificial intelligence and an advanced imaging system.
Papyrus scroll burnt to a crisp during Vesuvius eruption deciphered with help of AI
A papyrus scroll that was burned and carbonized when Mount Vesuvius erupted almost 2,000 years ago has been virtually unrolled and partially deciphered with the help of artificial intelligence.
Ancient Vesuvius Scrolls Get a 'Digital Unwrapping'
Two millennia after Mount Vesuvius turned a seaside villa's library into charcoal, scientists say they've finally "unrolled" a full ancient text without touching it. Using particle accelerator scans and machine-learning algorithms, a team led by University of Kentucky computer scientist Brent Seales has virtually opened Herculaneum scrolls so fragile they...
AI helps recover complete text of Herculaneum scroll burnt by Mount Vesuvius
The blackened, fragile scrolls cannot be physically opened without severe damage. Researchers have instead used high-resolution scans and computational techniques to "virtually unwrap" them.
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