X-ray technique 'reads' burnt Vesuvius scroll

BBC ^ | 20 January 2015 | Jonathan Webb

[rdl6989]

For the first time, words have been read from a burnt, rolled-up scroll buried by Mount Vesuvius in AD79.

The scrolls of Herculaneum, the only classical library still in existence, were blasted by volcanic gas hotter than 300C and are desperately fragile.

Deep inside one scroll, physicists distinguished the ink from the paper using a 3D X-ray imaging technique sometimes used in breast scans.

They believe that other scrolls could also be deciphered without unrolling.

[rdl6989]

Ping.

[zot]

This is good news! Thanks for posting it.

[zot]

Good news ping.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Been waiting for this to happen. They have been working on it for a while now.

[DannyTN]

Holy parched papyrus Batman!!!

[AppyPappy]

Drink....more......Oval......

[fidelis]

When they deciphered it, they found that it said:

[faithhopecharity]

Ki...lr...oy Wa...s He....re...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

If the list says tomatoes then there is going to be a major upset in the historical studies world.

[rdl6989]

I just looked it up, I didn’t know tomatoes were from the New World.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks rdl6989. I'm glad they finally started this. What the story doesn't say (and implies didn't happen) is that the idiots of the past couple centuries couldn't just leave the damned scrolls alone and preserved until something else could be figured out. There was a monumentally destructive unrolling program that went on for years.

Related to this, the same house where this private library was found seems to have another storey, and some optimistic speculation goes that there's another room to the library on that floor.

[Pelham]

..and ‘corn’ better mean ‘wheat’ instead of what the Brits call ‘maize’.

[To Hell With Poverty]

During the x-ray, do they have to squeeze the scrolls till they hurt?

[Dstorm]

we’ve been waiting for hundreds of years for this, now we can make tortillas

[BenLurkin]

VERY cool!

[SunkenCiv]

;’)

[SunkenCiv]

• Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum
• Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum
• Getty Villa Examines Life and Legacy of Roman Emperor Tiberius
• Herculaneum Panoramas
• House of the Telephus Relief: raising the roof on Roman real estate
• UK to 'unroll' papyrus scrolls buried by Vesuvius [Kentucky prof has non-invasive scanning technique
• Digital images reveal the secrets of Roman painting
• Beyond Pompeii: Places swallowed by Vesuvius
• In search of Western civilisation's lost classics (Herculaneum)
• In search of Western civilisation's lost classics
• In pictures: Ancient Roman paintings
• Rare Ancient Wooden Throne Found in Herculaneum (Buried by Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius)
• Villa Buried By Pompeii Eruption Is Unearthed
• Millionaire to fund dig for lost Roman library [Villa of the Papyri]
• Focus: The search for the lost library of Rome
• Focus: The search for the lost library of Rome
• Pompeii's Burial Not Its First Disaster
• Ancient Greek Bronze Fished From Sea Dazzes Italy
• Herculean task for modern scholars - More on the Discovered Roman Literature being unearthed.
• Experts urge race against time to unearth last secrets of Herculaneum's lost library

[edpc]

[hinckley buzzard]

*chuckle.* I was going to say that.