AI and scientists unite to decipher old scrolls charred by the Vesuvius volcano

Scientists are using artificial intelligence and human expertise to decode ancient scrolls carbonized by a volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago in Herculaneum, Italy. The scrolls, found in the Villa of the Papyri, were preserved but unreadable due to heat and ash, prompting a recent breakthrough in imaging and deciphering one scroll at Oxford University’s Bodleian Library using AI and a synchrotron. While progress has been made, scholars are working towards completing the text and hope to make the technology available locally for further exploration of the remaining scrolls in Naples.

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