Scrolls from the ancient Roman town of Herculaneum, which were buried in AD 79 during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, have finally been decoded after almost 2000 years. The tightly wrapped papyrus scrolls, which were charred in the disaster, have now yielded their first secret word: porphyras, meaning purple. The breakthrough came from a 21-year-old computer science student named Luke Farritor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who trained an artificial intelligence (AI) to identify nearly invisible ink patterns in 3D X-ray scans of the scrolls.
Farritor’s discovery shocked researchers who were not involved in the project but recognized the accuracy and significance of his findings. Another data science graduate student, Youssef Nader from the Free University of Berlin, independently found the same word shortly after Farritor, using a different AI technique. Nader’s discovery provided even clearer images of other scroll segments, impressing researchers even more.
The success in deciphering the scrolls is the result of collaborative efforts. The Vesuvius Challenge, an open-source competition, invited contributors to design computational tools for mapping out scroll segments. Furthermore, 3D X-ray scans conducted by a team at the University of Kentucky, led by Brent Seales, played a crucial role in making the breakthrough possible.
Traditionally, papyrologists could only study the Herculaneum scrolls by physically unrolling them, causing damage to the fragile papyri. Even with the introduction of 3D imaging and computational techniques, attempts to read the still rolled-up papyri proved elusive. However, the recent breakthrough opens up the possibility of claiming the grand prize of the Vesuvius Challenge, which amounts to $700,000. The challenge requires participants to read four passages of text from inside two intact scrolls before December 31, 2023.
Michael McOsker, a researcher at the University College London, expressed confidence in the abilities of competitors like Farritor and Nader, stating that he believes they can solve a whole roll. The prospect of reading a complete text from beginning to end, a feat that has thus far eluded researchers due to missing beginnings and the poor condition of unrolled papyri, is truly remarkable.
By successfully decoding the Herculaneum scrolls, researchers hope to gain valuable insights into ancient Roman culture and society. The next step in this extraordinary journey will be to unlock the remaining texts and uncover the secrets they hold.
