5 ms·

X-ray technique 'reads' burnt Vesuvius scroll

43 points by kevcampb 12y ago

cydonian_monk 12y ago
I was reading up on this earlier today and it looks like an absolutely fascinating project. Rather labor intensive to rebuild the document though, and not something that seems easily automated. So many of the scrolls appear to have kinks or major warpage in them, and I can only imagine many of the layers have fused together. I guess if you could find a common thread that goes across the entire length of a layer (be that an actual physical papyrus "thread" or some marker like an inked line) you could use that as a calibration point. From there it would be easier to map out and extract the letters on each layer (though still not easy). Does anyone who's read the main article in Nature (1) have any more details? 1: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150120/ncomms6895/full/ncomms6895.html http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150120/ncomms6895/full/nco...
greglindahl 12y ago
Interesting juxtaposition with the prior article about destroying Egyptian funeral masks in order to read them. In this case preserving the scrolls will eventually allow a much better result.
laichzeit0 12y ago
There are so many great Classical works that are lost to us [1]. I would really love if they turn out to be some of them, even if just fragments thereof. Polybius' Histories (particularly after the battle of Cannae), Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, Menander's plays, maybe Suetonius' Lives of Famous Whores for interest sake ;) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_work#Classical_world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_work#Classical_world
raverbashing 12y ago
I though this would be a simple "put the thing under the X-ray and read it" and not like reading a burned "toilet paper roll" Amazing
mjklin 12y ago
Years ago I heard they were using this technique on the burned papyrus library from Oxyrynchus. Wonder how they're coming with that.
VLM 12y ago
This aspect strikes me as a perfect crowd sourcing "science at home" project or a craptcha task: "The work was time-consuming and involved a lot of guesswork, particularly because the layers of paper were not just rolled, but squashed and mangled by their encounter with Vesuvius" I'd participate, in my infinite spare time. My Latin isn't so good, but this would probably help with that, also.

43 points by kevcampb 12y ago

I was reading up on this earlier today and it looks like an absolutely fascinating project. Rather labor intensive to rebuild the document though, and not something that seems easily automated. So many of the scrolls appear to have kinks or major warpage in them, and I can only imagine many of the layers have fused together. I guess if you could find a common thread that goes across the entire length of a layer (be that an actual physical papyrus "thread" or some marker like an inked line) you could use that as a calibration point. From there it would be easier to map out and extract the letters on each layer (though still not easy). Does anyone who's read the main article in Nature (1) have any more details? 1: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150120/ncomms6895/full/ncomms6895.html http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150120/ncomms6895/full/nco...

greglindahl 12y ago

Interesting juxtaposition with the prior article about destroying Egyptian funeral masks in order to read them. In this case preserving the scrolls will eventually allow a much better result.

laichzeit0 12y ago

There are so many great Classical works that are lost to us [1]. I would really love if they turn out to be some of them, even if just fragments thereof. Polybius' Histories (particularly after the battle of Cannae), Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, Menander's plays, maybe Suetonius' Lives of Famous Whores for interest sake ;) [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_work#Classical_world http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_work#Classical_world

raverbashing 12y ago

I though this would be a simple "put the thing under the X-ray and read it" and not like reading a burned "toilet paper roll" Amazing

mjklin 12y ago

Years ago I heard they were using this technique on the burned papyrus library from Oxyrynchus. Wonder how they're coming with that.

VLM 12y ago

This aspect strikes me as a perfect crowd sourcing "science at home" project or a craptcha task: "The work was time-consuming and involved a lot of guesswork, particularly because the layers of paper were not just rolled, but squashed and mangled by their encounter with Vesuvius" I'd participate, in my infinite spare time. My Latin isn't so good, but this would probably help with that, also.