Douglas Seiler, a former banker and inventor, has devised a method to read the charred Herculaneum scrolls without needing to physically unroll them. To validate his concept, he created his own papyrus scrolls and subjected them to burning. The ancient Roman city of Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, preserving the only known intact library from that era. Approximately 1,800 charred scrolls and fragments remain, but unrolling them risks disintegrating the delicate material. X-ray imaging also faces challenges as both the carbon-based ink and the burnt papyrus are primarily composed of carbon, making it difficult to differentiate the text. However, previous studies have detected lead in the ink of some ancient scrolls, including those from Herculaneum, which is more easily identifiable using X-rays. Seiler's innovative approach could therefore allow for a cost-effective and efficient means of identifying the scrolls that are most likely to yield readable text. For his experiment, Seiler sourced papyrus and reed pens from Egypt, along with traditional lampblack ink from Japan. Collaborating chemists assisted in preparing inks with various lead concentrations. High school students were then hired to write excerpts from classics such as "Star Wars," the Bible, and the 1960s series "The Outer Limits" on the papyrus. These scrolls were subsequently carbonized in a high-temperature furnace within a steel container that limited oxygen exposure. Physicists at NIST employed X-ray CT scanning on the charred scrolls and utilized software originally designed for analyzing the internal structures of lithium-ion batteries to virtually unroll them. The lead in the ink absorbed significantly more X-rays—up to 25 times—compared to the burnt papyrus, allowing even minute amounts of lead to be distinctly visible. Seiler remarked, "If you look at the images, the letters light up like a Christmas tree." The research team now suggests using an affordable handheld X-ray fluorescence scanner to screen the actual Herculaneum scrolls. Those that reveal lead traces could be prioritized for further examination using more advanced X-ray tomography. Additionally, the synthetic scrolls can serve as reliable training datasets for developing and verifying AI-driven text detection algorithms. Seiler, who initiated and partially funded the project, has a unique background; prior to his retirement, he worked in real estate and banking while also inventing. His interest in the Herculaneum scrolls was sparked during his time with Berkeley SETI, where he contributed to the PANOSETI telescope project, which was partly aimed at detecting signs of extraterrestrial technology.
Informational material. 18+.
