First passages of rolled-up Herculaneum scroll revealed
First passages of rolled-up Herculaneum scroll revealed

        

        
            
        
        
            
                
                    
                        

    
        
            
                NEWS
                05 February 2024
                
            

            

            
                
                
                    Researchers used artificial intelligence to decipher the text of 2,000-year-old charred papyrus scripts, unveiling musings on music and capers.
                
            
        
        
            
    
        
            
                
                    Jo Marchant
                
                
                    
                        
                            Jo Marchant is a science journalist based in London.
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                
            
        
    

        
    
    


            
            


        
            
                
                    
                        

                        
                    
                
            

            
                

                

                
                    A team of student researchers has made a giant contribution to solving one of the biggest mysteries in archaeology by revealing the content of Greek writing inside a charred scroll buried 2,000 years ago by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The winners of a contest called the Vesuvius Challenge trained their machine-learning algorithms on scans of the rolled-up papyrus, unveiling a previously unknown philosophical work that discusses the senses and pleasure. The feat paves the way for artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to decipher the rest of the scrolls in their entirety, something that researchers say could have revolutionary implications for our understanding of the ancient world.
                    
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                Nature 626, 461-462 (2024)
                doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00346-8

            
            
                
            

            
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