AI recovers notes from papyrus that survived 'the last day of Pompeii'

Researchers from the University of Michigan used the power of modern technology to

recover and decipher the recordings on the charredpapyrus damaged during the eruption of Vesuvius in the 1st century AD. The ancient scroll tells the story of the rulers who succeeded Alexander the Great after his death.

The scroll that the scientists examined is one ofHerculaneum papyri. This is a rich collection of ancient texts found at the Villa of the Papyri, a country house located near the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum. Both the villa and the city, like the more famous Pompeii, were buried in ash during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. 

Due to high temperatures during the eruptionthe scrolls were charred, but still preserved. They were found during excavations back in the 18th century. However, attempts to unfold the papyrus to read the text written on it only led to further destruction.

Fragments of burnt papyrus. Photo: Michele Hannoosh

To unlock the secrets of papyrus, scientistsscanned the scrolls using computed tomography. The analysis showed the location of the ink in the three-dimensional sections of the papyrus. The researchers then trained the AI ​​to detect ink based on images of curled text and reconstruct the text.

The reconstructed text belongs to an unknown personto the author and contains the names of a number of Macedonian dynasts (rulers in conquered lands) and the generals of Alexander the Great. In addition, the text mentions the emperor himself and the generals Seleucus and Cassander several times. The first of them, after the death of Alexander, ruled part of the territories of the former empire in the Middle East, and the second - in Greece. 

The researchers note that so far they have been able todecipher only small parts of heavily damaged text. However, each reprocessing of data using CT and AI allows more to be read. The restored parts of the ancient manuscript tell about the reign of the dynasties that succeeded Alexander the Great.

Scholars will continue to study this scroll, exceptIn addition, they believe that the proposed method will be suitable for deciphering other previously undiscovered Herculaneum papyri that survived the eruption of Vesuvius.

Read more:

Scientists transplanted human “brain” into rats and told what happened in the end

Two photos of the Earth with a difference of 50 years were compared at NASA: what scientists found

Found a rare planet, very similar to the Earth. She is close to us