AI and scientists work together to uncover the charred "scroll" under Mount Vesuvius

Author: Duan Yuechu

In the long river of history, in 79 AD, the violent eruption of Mount Vesuvius ruthlessly destroyed the Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii, bringing great disaster to the people at that time. But this disaster also inadvertently preserved a group of precious cultural heritage for future generations - hundreds of charred and carbonized ancient scrolls. Today, scientists have joined hands with artificial intelligence to embark on a journey to decipher these mysterious scrolls, trying to dig out the wisdom of ancient civilizations from them.

In the 1750s, archaeologists discovered hundreds of papyrus scrolls in the ruins of a luxurious villa in Herculaneum. The library, known as the "Papyrus Villa," holds countless mysteries of ancient thought. If these candy-bar-sized scrolls can be successfully deciphered, they will greatly enrich our understanding of ancient thought.

However, the high temperature and volcanic ash brought by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, while preserving the scrolls, also turned them into unrecognizable carbonized blocks. If unfolded directly, these fragile scrolls will instantly break and disintegrate, and the textual content they contain will also vanish. Over the past 250 years, scholars and scientists have never stopped exploring ways to decipher these scrolls. Most of these scrolls are kept in the National Library of Naples, quietly waiting for the day when they will be cracked.

It wasn't until 2023 that several technology executives launched the "Vesuvius Challenge" competition, offering cash prizes to teams or individuals who crack the scrolls using technologies such as machine learning, computer vision, and geometry. This move injected new vitality into the work of deciphering the scrolls.

Finally, a major breakthrough has been achieved in this journey of exploration. Not long ago, the Vesuvius Challenge announced a "historic achievement": researchers successfully generated the first image of the interior of one of the three scrolls stored in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford.

Brent Sears, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky and co-founder of the Vesuvius Challenge, said organizers were "extremely excited" about the successful imaging. The amount of text that could be recovered from the scroll far exceeds that of any Herculaneum scroll that has ever been scanned, which undoubtedly gives the entire research team great confidence.

The imaging process was a perfect collaboration of technology and history. The scroll was scanned at the Diamond Light Source Laboratory in Harwell, near Oxford, using powerful X-rays produced by a particle accelerator called a synchrotron. Scientists then used artificial intelligence to piece together the scanned image fragments, looking for traces of ink that could reveal the text and improve the clarity of the text. Using a technique called "segmentation," they successfully generated a 3D image of the scroll, allowing experts to "unfold" it in a virtual environment and get a glimpse of the mystery inside.

Despite this important progress, artificial intelligence still has certain limitations in this work. So far, only a few texts have been successfully deciphered, and one of the words identified is the ancient Greek word for "disgust." However, this small breakthrough has inspired the enthusiasm of many scholars, and everyone has joined in the work of completing the text decipherment.

Peter Toth, curator of the Greek collection at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, said: "We are just getting started. We need clearer images, and the researchers are confident that they can further improve the image quality and readability of the text." Toth also hopes that this technology can be used locally in the future, so that the other two fragile scrolls will no longer need to be transported to the headquarters of the Diamond Light Source Laboratory to avoid the risk of damage during transportation. He also mentioned: "Maybe there will be more convenient equipment in the future. Don't forget that there are about 1,000 scrolls waiting for us to explore in Naples."

This collaboration between artificial intelligence and scientists is like a conversation across time and space. With the help of modern technology, they try to establish a connection with ancient civilizations and interpret the wisdom that has been sealed by time. In the future, with the continuous advancement of technology and in-depth research, I believe that these charred scrolls will gradually unveil the mysterious veil, presenting us with a splendid picture of the ancient world and bringing those ideas that have been dormant for thousands of years back to life.

References:

AI and scientists unite to decipher old scrolls charred by the Vesuvius volcano｜THE ASSOCIATED PRESS