AI helps decode new secrets from scrolls burned by Mount Vesuvius
University of Kentucky project using artificial intelligence to help solve an ancient Roman mystery has led to a major discovery, researchers say announced on thursday.
The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79 buried the Roman city of Pompeii and the nearby town of Herculaneum. Archaeologists found 1,800 papyrus scrolls during an excavation at Herculaneum in the 18th century. intact ancient libraryIn the depths of a villa destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. But it was impossible to read them: the scrolls were brittle and charred, dissolving them turning them to ash.
For centuries, researchers have worked to interpret the scrolls. A cutting-edge technology breakthrough enabled: A particle accelerator and artificial intelligence It was used to identify ink, even faint traces, allowing researchers to virtually open delicate scrolls. But interpreting the ancient language is a completely different project.
An opened Herculaneum scroll. / Credit: National Library of Naples
In 2023, Brent Seales launched the Vesuvius Challenge, a global competition offering prize money to those who can help interpret the writing. There were three university students First person to extract words from a charred scroll In 2024. However, they interpreted only 5% of a scroll.
The second phase of the challenge led to Thursday’s big discovery. The University of Kentucky’s Stanley and Karen Pigman School of Engineering, which conducted the research in collaboration with Vittorio Emanuele III of the Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli in Naples, said experts opened nearly an entire scroll, extracted more than 70 columns of text from another, identified two new books from ancient Rome, and recovered “sufficient text to support new critical scholarly editions.”
Almost unopened parchment, PHerc. Nicolardi said 1667 is one of the oldest in the collection. Now that it has been published, efforts are ongoing to identify the author of the article. In one of the books it was revealed that the philosopher Philodemus wrote a series of eight books. Previously, only one book was known to exist.
“For almost two millennia, many of these texts have been physically preserved but intellectually inaccessible,” Seales said. he said in a press release. “Today, after years of interdisciplinary work combining advanced imaging, artificial intelligence (AI), academic research, and innovation competition, we can finally read them.”
A nearly unopened fragment of one of the scrolls shows ancient Greek text. / Credit: Challenge of Vesuvius
The amount of resulting text means scholars can read the scrolls as complete arguments rather than fragments. This marks a “transformational change” for researchers, said Federica Nicolardi, an assistant professor of papyrology at the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II in Naples.
“Today we are hearing voices that have been silent for 2,000 years,” Seales said. “This is the first time we’ve uncovered and read about them, but most importantly, we’re beginning to understand them.”
Yet more than 600 scrolls remain unopened and unread. Giorgio Angelotti, project leader for the Vesuvius Challenge, said efforts were “ongoing” and archaeologists needed “everyone’s help to read the scrolls.” Seales said he believes the entire library can be decrypted.
“This is no longer just about imaging or machine learning,” Seales said. “We now need experts who can read, edit and understand what they say.”
