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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Ian Sample Science editor

AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption

Ancient excavated Herculaneum ruins with stone buildings and courtyards, with modern buildings and Mount Vesuvius beyond
The scroll was recovered from the library of a luxury Roman villa in Herculaneum, near Naples, that was blasted by heat and buried under ash in AD79. Photograph: Vicki Jauron, Babylon and Beyond Photography/Getty

The surviving part of an ancient scroll that was burnt to a crisp when Mount Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago has been virtually unwrapped and read with help from artificial intelligence.

Researchers uncovered 20 columns of previously hidden text covering more than a metre of charred papyrus without physically unrolling the scroll. The work discusses stoic philosophy on ethics, art and human behaviour and dates to the second or late-third century BC.

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