LIVE: Announcement on Herculaneum Scrolls Breakthrough

12:12 - Pre-show Content
27:10 - Program Begins
Panelist include:
- Brent Seales, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator EduceLab, Pigman Endowed Professor of Heritage Science
Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering
- Federica Nicolardi
, Assistant Professor of Classics
University of Naples Federico II
- JP Posma
, Project Lead
, The Vesuvius Challenge
- Luke Farritor
, $40,000 Frist Letters Prize - 1st Place
The Vesuvius Challenge

- Christy Chapman,
Research and Partnership Director
, Educe Lab
READ MORE: uknow.uky.edu/...
BACKGROUND: The Herculaneum scrolls are among the most iconic and inaccessible of the world’s vast collection of damaged manuscripts. Burned and buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, they offer a unique window to the ancient world.
Unfortunately, they are too fragile to unroll.
For more than two decades, Seales and his dedicated team - of staff and student researchers with the Digital Restoration Initiative, part of EduceLab - have doggedly labored to create high-tech, noninvasive tools to rescue hidden texts and restore them to humanity.
In March, as part of a global competition (Vesuvius Challenge), Seales’ team released its software and thousands of 3D X-ray images of two rolled-up scrolls and three papyrus fragments.
The hope is, $1 million in prizes will encourage global researchers and scholars to build upon the AI technology and accelerate the decoding of the only intact library to survive from ancient times.
Now, thanks to modern technology and Seales’ determination, this 20-year quest to read the “unreadable” has been made possible.
More information about the project can be found here: engr.uky.edu/h...
Find out more @ www.engr.uky.edu
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Produced by Eric Sanders at the University of Kentucky College of Engineering. For more information about the Marketing and Communication department visit: www.engr.uky.ed...
#ukyengineering #engineering #universityofky #herculaneum #scroll #vesuvius #artificialintelligence #papyrus #Papyrology

[@lalaLAX219]

Video begins at 12:12, update starts at 27:12

[@joesmoe71]

Some of these guys, especially Brent Seales whom got the ball rolling in the first place should get Nobel Prizes for this if they can actually read an entire scrolls, the potential historical repercussions are almost unimaginable, to say nothing about other potential breakthroughs that'll be possible with other previously unreadable texts! The beautiful thing is they are doing NOTHING to the scrolls physically, so if someday an even better method is discovered they will all still be intact for those techniques too. I didn't even know the Franklin papers existed, that might be quite a historical find in itself! To me this ranks above even cloning a mammoth or entering the recently discovered rooms in the great pyramid for things I'm anxiously awaiting!

[@KyleBeesley]

What a fantastic explanation of this process and the crazy new discoveries. Thanks for posting this!

[@michaelhoffmann2891]

I'm surprised that more wasn't said immediately about the word and connotation of "porphyr": the most precious colour in the ancient world, reserved for the emperors alone. Cue endless speculation of what this could mean - until we can comfortably read the whole thing.

[@binabina4445]

I dont kmow why this brings tears to my eyes

[@Josephus-f1o]

How many scrolls have been read and have they been published?

[@dasparadoxon]

I am still not really sure how the model was trained. Did I miss it ?

[@dcheetham8603]

How incredible and inspiring. Thank you!

[@rmsrmsrmsrms]

My question: Is there any hope or interest or need, for a 'smaller voxels' version of the CT/X-ray scanning hardware, or has development on that end effectively stopped -- whether because of diminishing returns, or from a lack of any better scanning hardware -- and all effort henceforth directed to the software side of the project?

[@tdmckee]

They mention they used a synchrotron for some of the scanning - microCT gives good enough resolution, there were maybe hundreds of voxels per letter here - but lower signal to noise (provided by better xray sources like synchrotron) can help with image analysis.

[@atar212]

Absolutely amazing!!!!!

[@137chuckm]

Please Doctor Seales find something related to the New Testament!

[@jacquitalanman8635]

I’m sure these people are so elated that their work has allowed successful “ word finding!”

[@petertodorov1792]

The first text says “Eat at Flavius’s”

[@geraldmiller5260]

What a great breakthrough in reading these ancient texts.

[@digidoff]

exciting things to come as they unwrap the magic.

[@romano3771]

WOW !

[@CreativeHuckleBerry]

So where can i read it? is there an english translation enywhere?

[@christopher4098586]

There won't be any english translation for most texts in a long time. You should take advantage while they are deciphering the texts to learn greek

[@mwj5368]

I thought I read somewhere Elon Musk was interested in the scrolls of Herculaneum. I suppose they already approached him for funds. Maybe he could give enough that they would concentrate on excavating at the villa complex where they think there are more scrolls. If it's a World Heritage site would they provide funds, or National Geographic? Thanks for a great update!

[@joesmoe71]

My understanding (and I'm no expert) is that the biggest reason they've stopped most of the excavations is because of problems preserving what has already been uncovered. A lot of it up until recently was being badly neglected and suffering severe weathering so it was decided there was no sense in digging anything else up until it was dealt with, which makes a lot of sense to me. That said I've got to imagine if scrolls do become readable there will be a massive push to at least excavate the villa they discovered the scrolls in, which is huge and only a small part has been exposed, so it could be in the not too distant future we'll see new scrolls and other artifacts being discovered. Personally I say go for it as soon as it's proven they can be read and build a large structure over the villa to preserve it, it will be more than worth the effort for the history that will finally be learned not to mention it would probably be quite a tourist attraction.

[@mwj5368]

@@joesmoe71 Hi! Thanks so much for taking the time with me, plus great info as you're so knowledgeable! I wonder if they decipher a scroll if it might be publishable and if so that too would probaby cause a big stir and many copies sell to raise more funds. I suppose projecting the popularity of both cities and the millions of visitors per year that would raise major funds too, but that's just my amateur view. Also maybe they could get a loan if approaching the billionaires doesn't work. If they project even more visitors then that could help pay a major loan and a real intense archaeological excavation and research could begin as I'd think time is difficult to foresee especially with all that's going on in the geopolitical realms. Thanks again for your cogent and lucid input!!

[@AlexanderLittlebears]

Elon recently gave 2 millions

[@mwj5368]

@@AlexanderLittlebearsWow! Congratulations! How exciting for all humanity! I can't wait to see update news of the progress!! Thanks for taking the time to reply, such major news!!