Scientists Harness AI to Decipher Ancient Scrolls Charred by Pompeii Volcano
In a remarkable feat of modern technology, computer scientists have employed artificial intelligence to unlock the secrets of a 2,000-year-old scroll that was charred during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. When the volcano erupted in 79CE, the town of Herculaneum was buried under a deluge of volcanic ash and mud, taking along with it a library containing over 1,800 manuscripts. The fear of losing invaluable knowledge was recently quelled when two computer scientists, Luke Farritor from Nebraska and Youssef Nader from Berlin, independently unveiled the first word hidden within the carbonized scrolls. This groundbreaking discovery earned them a significant cash prize of $50,000 (£41,168).
Professor Brent Seales, a computer scientist from the University of Kentucky, publicly announced the breakthrough. He had initiated the Vesuvius Challenge earlier this year, offering substantial rewards to anyone capable of deciphering the manuscripts. Amidst intense anticipation and scrutiny, both Farritor and Nader splendidly unveiled the ancient Greek word for “purple” within the Herculaneum manuscripts. These manuscripts were preserved due to the intense heat that carbonized them, rendering them delicately fragile and impossible to unroll.
To prevent further damage to the already fragile manuscripts, Professor Seales and his team conducted a high-resolution scan of the rolled-up scrolls using a particle accelerator. While the ink had vanished, Professor Seales believed that machine learning could unearth the subtle marks left by the presence of ink. Thus, he released thousands of 3D images of the two rolled-up scrolls, along with an artificial intelligence program trained to decipher the inked letters. These scrolls were discovered amongst hundreds during excavations in the 1750s, when archaeologists surveyed a buried villa believed to have belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Julius Caesar’s father-in-law.
Farritor triumphantly claimed the $40,000 (£32,934) prize for his initial decoding of a legible word from the scroll. Shortly after, Nader achieved an even clearer image and was awarded $10,000 (£8,233). While they were only able to read ten letters from the extensive library, their breakthrough paves the way for future endeavors in uncovering the contents of the Herculaneum scrolls. Prior attempts to unroll the scrolls led to their destruction, with only a few successfully opened by a monk over the span of several decades. If the scrolls could be read without damage, it would effectively double the remaining body of texts from antiquity.
Federica Nicolardi, assistant professor in papyrology at the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, expressed excitement over the discovery of the word “purple,” noting its significance in ancient Rome. “Purple dye was highly sought-after in ancient Rome and was made from the glands of sea snails, so the term could refer to purple color, robes, the rank of people who could afford the dye, or even the mollusks,” she said. The challenge now lies in unlocking more than just a single word and ultimately deciphering entire works. The bulk of the $1 million (£822,735) prize money remains unclaimed, with a grand prize of $700,000 (£576,355) awaiting the first person to read four passages of text by the end of 2023.
Professor Seales expressed his fascination with the competitive science aspect of this project, which engaged more than a thousand research teams compared to the usual few. If successful, the deciphering of the Herculaneum scrolls could significantly augment the surviving body of texts from the classical era.
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