An international team of researchers has managed for the first time to fully read an ancient Roman papyrus burned during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
Demokrat.az reports that with the help of artificial intelligence and advanced scanning technologies, scientists have learned to "virtually unroll" carbonized papyri without touching them. This method allows reading the text in multiple layers without causing any physical damage to the artifacts.
To accelerate the research, the project organizers have announced a prize of 1 million US dollars for the person who will fully decipher any other papyrus from the collection for the first time. All information, program codes, and models related to the project have been made openly accessible.
Brent Seales, professor of computer science at the University of Kentucky and co-founder of the project, stated:
"A year ago, if someone among us believed it was possible to read a full inventory of hundreds of text columns without any physical intervention, it would have seemed unrealistic. Today, however, we have shown that it is possible."
Currently, approximately 45 papyri and fragments have been scanned. Nevertheless, more than 600 unopened manuscripts are still waiting their turn. Moreover, a large part of the villa where they were found has not been excavated at all.
Among the newly read materials are 70 columns of text from Epicurean philosopher Philodemus's "On Vices, Book I," as well as a text about 1.5 meters long from a document considered the oldest papyrus in the collection, dating back to approximately the 3rd–2nd centuries B.C.
Federica Nicolardi, the lead papyrologist of the project, explained the significance of this approach as follows:
"Even the most effective existing methods for physically unrolling and reading the papyri caused their damage. Thanks to virtual unrolling technology, there is no longer a need to choose between preserving these rare artifacts and reading them. We achieve both goals simultaneously."
According to her, the progress is extremely rapid. Researchers managed to unroll a whole papyrus and obtain about 140 new columns of text in just one night.
"Indeed, it is as if everything changed precisely last night, after Vesuvius," Federica Nicolardi said.