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Exciting New Archeological Technique - X-Rays + "AI" Decipher Roasted Herculaneum Scrolls
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68g.1499
Feb 6, 2024, 2:11:35 AMFeb 6
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13048123/Herculaneum-scroll-DECIPHERED-AI-students.html
First passages of Herculaneum scroll are DECIPHERED by AI: Students
use program to read more than 2,000 words on charred papyrus buried
by Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79AD
Students have deciphered a Herculaneum scroll using artificial
intelligence
. . .
The first one wasn't THAT exciting ... seemed to have been
writ by a nit-picking "philosopher" attempting to exactly
define "pleasure". Included a diss of his fellow less-exact
contemporaries ....
BUT - there are lots of other scrolls.
The scroll was 'carbonized' by the Vesuvius eruption
of 79-AD. Just looks like a black stogie. Previous
attempts to unroll them were a total fail.
The ability of modern X-ray techniques to image
individual, very thin, layers was a major plus.
The "AI" was trained to cope with minor overlaps
in the scans and discover real, logical, wording
from the mess.
It was common practice in the old days to write/paste
over existing media. Said "media" were often expensive.
That'd include papyrus, parchment and early forms
of paper.
Old stuff would be erased, or even further back a new
layer of clay might be added or (as in Egypt) existing
stuff largely hammered off to disappear some hated
rival. However, at the very very fine level, traces
of the original stuff may STILL remain. Even in stone,
20/50/100+ years of weathering might leave a deeper
imprint the eye cannot discern.
First passages of Herculaneum scroll are DECIPHERED by AI: Students
use program to read more than 2,000 words on charred papyrus buried
by Mount Vesuvius eruption in 79AD
Students have deciphered a Herculaneum scroll using artificial
intelligence
. . .
The first one wasn't THAT exciting ... seemed to have been
writ by a nit-picking "philosopher" attempting to exactly
define "pleasure". Included a diss of his fellow less-exact
contemporaries ....
BUT - there are lots of other scrolls.
The scroll was 'carbonized' by the Vesuvius eruption
of 79-AD. Just looks like a black stogie. Previous
attempts to unroll them were a total fail.
The ability of modern X-ray techniques to image
individual, very thin, layers was a major plus.
The "AI" was trained to cope with minor overlaps
in the scans and discover real, logical, wording
from the mess.
It was common practice in the old days to write/paste
over existing media. Said "media" were often expensive.
That'd include papyrus, parchment and early forms
of paper.
Old stuff would be erased, or even further back a new
layer of clay might be added or (as in Egypt) existing
stuff largely hammered off to disappear some hated
rival. However, at the very very fine level, traces
of the original stuff may STILL remain. Even in stone,
20/50/100+ years of weathering might leave a deeper
imprint the eye cannot discern.
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