In 79 AD, the ancient cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by a volcanic eruption. Among the items that were damaged in this event were the scrolls in the libraries in these two cities. The ancient scrolls became carbonized by intense heat and gas from the volcano.
In 1752, 1,800 scrolls were uncovered by archaeologists. These scrolls were discovered in what is believed to be have been the home of Julius Caesar’s father-in-law in Herculaneum.
Over the course of the last several years, scientists have attempted to unravel the scrolls and determine their content. Most of the scrolls cannot be unwrapped. Those scrolls that have been partially unwrapped saw the ink disappear after a short period of time. Most of the scrolls deciphered thus far contain text relating to the Epicurean school of philosophy.
There is now a new effort underway by scientists to use x-ray technology to decipher what that scrolls contain. X-rays have been used on a scroll discovered in Israel to find out its contents. That scroll had lead in the ink that allowed the x-ray to work well. The scroll found in Israel contained text from the Old Testament book of Leviticus.
Scientists are going to modify the x-ray technique to work with the scrolls found in Herculaneum. The ink on these scrolls does not have a high metallic content, so scientists will incorporate machine learning technology to help with the deciphering process. Scientists will use algorithms that allow a computer to decipher what the scrolls say based on what is able to be detected by the x-rays and text already known to exist on some of the other scrolls.
Scientists will only be testing their new technique on two scrolls to begin with in case the technique causes damage to the scrolls. If the technique is successful, it will be used on 900 other scrolls in order to access the knowledge once held in the libraries of these ancient cities.
