AI Deciphered Herculaneum Scrolls Buried by Vesuvius

Bright Side

Recently, AI has helped scientists unlock the secrets of ancient scrolls buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius! These scrolls, found in Herculaneum, were buried under volcanic ash for almost 2,000 years, making them impossible to read—until now. By using advanced machine learning, the AI could "see" inside the tightly rolled scrolls without unrolling them. It's like getting a glimpse into the past, revealing lost writings from ancient Rome. This breakthrough means we could uncover more forgotten texts hidden in the scrolls. It’s a huge step in both archaeology and technology!

Transcript

00:00In 79 CE, the Vesuvius volcano erupted and burned down two beautiful cities of the Roman

00:07Empire, Pompeii and Herculaneum.

00:11Many of you have probably heard about this tragic story.

00:14However, few people know that in the middle of the 18th century, archaeologists discovered

00:20ancient scrolls from that time amongst the ruins of Herculaneum.

00:25For any scientist or historian, such a discovery is a treasure trove that offers insights in

00:29to the thoughts and lives of people from over 2,000 years ago.

00:34However, the problem was that 1,800 scrolls were found in very poor condition, singed by

00:41the heat of the volcano, coated in ash and soot.

00:45They had become hardened black lumps.

00:48Brittle as coal, any careless movement could destroy them.

00:52Scientists were aware that invaluable knowledge from an ancient Roman library was concealed

00:57within, and endeavored to decipher the texts.

01:02One method was to cut the scrolls in half and scrape off the thin layers of solid dust and

01:07ashes.

01:08Then, the researchers created a special machine that could slowly unroll the scrolls.

01:14They managed to read a few words.

01:17But, unfortunately, such methods damaged and even destroyed some of the artifacts.

01:23In those instances, archaeologists could only wait for advancements in technology that would

01:27allow them to unfold and read the scrolls.

01:31And finally, this day has arrived.

01:35Artificial intelligence has now enabled researchers to decipher texts written 2,000 years ago, even

01:41though the inscriptions on the scrolls were charred and nearly illegible.

01:45Initially, scientists scanned the scrolls and created high-resolution digital models.

01:51This process allowed specialists to identify the areas where ancient ink had altered the texture

01:56and shape of the papyrus fibers.

01:59In the regions where ink was applied, the papyrus was slightly thicker and contained a higher level

02:05of carbon, the key component of the ink.

02:08The researchers developed a machine learning model capable of detecting these subtle details

02:13within the papyrus.

02:15They uploaded thousands of 3D images of the scrolls to the internet, inviting people to collaborate

02:21with AI in decoding the text.

02:24During the early stages, the system occasionally made errors, making human assistance a simple

02:29essential.

02:31To incentivize participation, scientists and investors from Silicon Valley offered $1 million

02:36to anyone who could successfully decode the texts.

02:40This initiative significantly accelerated the process, resulting in the deciphering of several

02:46passages from the ancient works.

02:49Fragments of the first transcripts are like a blog about how to enjoy life.

02:53The author of the scroll, Philodemus, was a follower of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, who

02:59considered pleasure and luxury the highest goal in his life.

03:03So, Philodemus thought so too.

03:06We do not right away believe things that are scarce to be absolutely more pleasant than those

03:11which are abundant.

03:13It feels as if it was written by some modern influencer talking about a detox program or

03:18a diet.

03:19It seems that people who lived 2000 years ago were almost the same as modern ones.

03:26Philodemus was apparently a wealthy man, because he lived in a villa that may have belonged to

03:31Julius Caesar's father-in-law.

03:33In his works, the author criticized the Stoics, who couldn't say anything about pleasure at

03:39all.

03:40Philodemus was such an ardent fan of Epicureanism that one of the scientists compared him to a

03:45guy who collected albums from only one band and nothing else.

03:51Several hundred Herculaneum scrolls remain unread.

03:55Scientists believe that they may contain works by Aristotle, Homer, Sophocles and the Stoics.

04:01Fortunately, with modern AI technologies, the decryption process will go on much faster.

04:07But how did historians and linguists decipher ancient texts in the past centuries?

04:14It was actually a very difficult mental job.

04:17Let's say you found an ancient slab in the 19th century somewhere in Greece.

04:22To understand what was written there, you'd have to compare it to several other deciphered

04:26plates with similar writings of that era or similar languages.

04:31Letter by letter, symbol by symbol, you'd be deciphering ancient writings for several months,

04:37or even years, to figure out, say, the recipe for ancient mashed potatoes.

04:43Fortunately, with the development of computer technology, those days are long gone.

04:49Now, all ancient scrolls can be scanned and uploaded to a database on a computer.

04:55You may not even have to decipher the text for a long time if the computer finds a match

04:59of characters in other ancient manuscripts.

05:02But even if you have a perfectly preserved piece of papyrus or an ancient book where all

05:08letters are visible, this doesn't mean that you and AI will be able to decipher it.

05:14One of the most famous encrypted texts is the Voynich Manuscript.

05:19This work, which consists of 240 colorful pages, was acquired by Polish bookseller in 1912.

05:27He found that book intriguing because of astrological symbols, unknown plants, and unusual human figures

05:34drawn on its pages.

05:36And all this was accompanied by handwritten texts.

05:41The author had beautiful, clear handwriting.

05:44But the language of the book is still unknown.

05:47Someone wrote this art book around the beginning of the 15th century and divided it into six

05:52sections devoted to botany, astronomy, biology, cooking, medicine, and cosmology.

06:00Many scientists and linguists have tried to decipher the mysterious drawings with inscriptions,

06:05but no one has gotten reliable results.

06:09Even AI couldn't help this difficult task.

06:12Some believe that this book is dedicated to science, and others believe that it contains

06:17knowledge about witchcraft.

06:19Perhaps it's a mix of science and magic.

06:22According to one version, the manuscript is a medical textbook that copied information

06:27from other scientific works from the Middle Ages.

06:31Before the invention of the printing press, people copied books and rewrote them by hand

06:35without worrying about copyrights.

06:38It's possible that the author of the manuscript outlined all their knowledge about herbal medicines

06:43and the influence of astrology on health.

06:46People in the past believed that the state of the body and stars in the sky were connected.

06:52The coolest thing is that the book has been scanned.

06:55You can download it in high resolution and try to decrypt it yourself.

06:59Who knows, maybe you will succeed and get some ancient secret knowledge.

07:05An unknown language or poor text condition may not always be a problem for linguists.

07:11Imagine that you open some copy of classical literature dated to the 19th century.

07:16You read the pages carefully and at the end of the day, you feel slightly unwell.

07:21You read the book every day and feel worse and worse.

07:25At some point, you go to the hospital and doctors tell you that you've been poisoned.

07:31Yeah, sometimes working with old books can be literally dangerous for your health.

07:36There are even catalogues of poisonous books in the world.

07:40They are toxic not because someone intentionally sprayed them with poison to hurt the reader,

07:45but because people wanted to make books look more colorful.

07:49Recently, two such books have been withdrawn from the National Library of France because of

07:54their bright green covers.

07:56The pages were ordinary, but the hardcover could have been coated with arsenic.

08:01The mass production of books took place in the 19th century.

08:05Book publishers wanted to release as many copies as possible, so they used not expensive leather

08:10covers for them, but cheaper fabric options.

08:14To make a book attractive to customers, they painted them in bright green, yellow, red and

08:19other colors.

08:21They got the green color of the cover thanks to the bright pigment created from copper and

08:26arsenic.

08:27It was a very cheap dye, but brighter than other dyes containing copper carbonate.

08:33An arsenic dye was used not only for books, but also to create candles and wallpaper.

08:40The problem was that the dye's pigment decomposed quickly and released toxic carcinogenic fumes.

08:47It caused severe health problems.

08:49People calmly lived in their homes and couldn't understand what was happening to them.

08:53The same thing happened to many readers of that time.

08:57It was only by the end of the 19th century that people stopped selling toxic items.

09:03Now to read a poisonous book, if you want to do it that is, you have to wear gloves and

09:08a protective mask, and after work, wash your hands thoroughly.

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