Unrolling an ancient scroll

A scroll that was burned during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Italy, nearly 2,000 years ago has been “digitally unrolled”. The scroll, which is a rolled-up document made of a paper-like material called papyrus, was originally found in a Roman house in Herculaneum. Herculaneum was a town in Italy that was covered in hot ash when the volcano erupted in AD79. The scroll is so fragile that it’s impossible to unroll. To read what’s inside, the scroll was taken to the Diamond Light Source facility in Oxfordshire, England. An X-ray machine scanned the scroll and took a 3D image. This image was then transferred to a computer. It’s already possible to see some writing on the scroll and researchers have identified an ancient Greek word that means “disgust”. Artificial intelligence…

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The Week Junior (UK) (Digital) - 1 Issue, 479

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