How AI is helping unravel mystery of ancient scrolls buried in Mount Vesuvius eruption

Artificial intelligence helps to solve a Ancient mystery of the Roman Empire involving scrolls from a library that has been buried when Mont Vesuve broke out.

The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD not only destroyed Pompeii, but also the neighboring city of Herculanum.

Profees below the surface where a villa previously existed, the 18th century archaeologists found 1,800 papyrus rolls in the only old library in the world which is still intact. Attempts to unravel some of the scrolls ended with ashes while the library was charred, said Brent Seales, a computer scientist from the University of Kentucky.

“People did not understand what they had. So some rollers were thrown or burned and you cannot put Humpty Dumpty again,” said Seales.

But thanks to 21st century technology, experts are now able to examine those that are still intact.

This technology involved a particle accelerator in England. Scientists produced light that was 10 billion times brighter than the sun, much like an x ​​-ray. The AI ​​was then used to identify the ink, so low.

“I told myself that if you can use this technology to see in a non-invasive way in a human body, why can’t we see everything inside an artifact like a roller?” According to Seales.

Decipher the roller

They still needed humans to decipher what the letters mean. Seales therefore launched the Vesuvius Challenge, a global competition offering $ 700,000 as a price.

Three students brought him home, making history by being the First to extract the words from a charred parchmentAlmost 2,000 years, which had been practically unpacked.

With hundreds of additional rollers to go, SESMES launched a second phase of the competition.

“With methods inspired by AI that will inaugurate, you know, new results that we have not dreamed of, I do not think that the Renaissance is a too strong word,” he said.

Seales said he thought there could be more rolls there because archaeologists just started to scratch the surface.

“I believe that the Villa des Papyrus, which has not been fully excavated, has a great chance to produce more books,” he said. “It remains so much to discover for us.”