The PHerc.172 scroll as revealed by X-ray imaging
Vesuvius Challenge
An ancient Roman scroll has been read for the first time since it was charred in the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius two millennia ago, thanks to artificial intelligence and a high-powered X-ray facility.
The papyrus scroll was one of 1800 rescued from a single room in the remnants of an ornate villa in the Roman town of Herculaneum during the 1750s, which is now the Italian town of Ercolano. All of them were carbonised by the heat of the volcanic debris that buried them.
