Latest news with #BrentSeales
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
How AI is helping solve an ancient mystery from the Roman Empire
Artificial intelligence is helping to solve an ancient mystery from the Roman Empire involving scrolls from a library that was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79 not only wiped out Pompeii, but also the nearby town of Herculaneum. Deep beneath the surface where a villa previously existed, archaeologists in the 18th century found 1,800 papyrus scrolls in the only ancient library in the world that is still intact. Attempts to unravel some of the scrolls ended in ashes as the library was carbonized, Brent Seales, a computer scientist from the University of Kentucky, explained. "People didn't understand what they had. So, some scrolls were actually thrown away or burned and you can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again," Seales said. But thanks to 21st-century technology, experts are now able to examine those still intact. That technology involved a particle accelerator in England. Scientists produced light that was 10 billion times brighter than the sun, much like an X-ray. AI was then used to identify ink, no matter how faint. "I thought to myself, if you can use that technology to see non-invasively inside a human body, why can't we see everything inside an artifact like a scroll?" Seales said. Deciphering the scroll They still needed humans to decipher what the letters mean. So Seales launched the Vesuvius Challenge, a global competition offering $700,000 in prize money. Three college students took it home, making history by being the first to extract words from a carbonized scroll, nearly 2,000 years old, that had been virtually unwrapped. With hundreds more scrolls to go, Seales has launched a second phase of the competition. "With AI-inspired methods that are going to usher in, you know, new results that we've not dreamed of, I don't think renaissance is too strong a word," he said. Seales said he believes there could be more scrolls out there as archaeologists are just beginning to scratch the surface. "I believe the Villa of the Papyri, which has not been fully excavated, stands a really high chance of producing more books," he said. "So much remains for us to discover." Young Cuban girl asks Trump to lift travel ban stopping her from joining mom in U.S. Planning details revealed in U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear targets White House says no date set for Iran meeting
CBS News
26-06-2025
- Science
- CBS News
How AI is helping unravel mystery of ancient scrolls buried in Mount Vesuvius eruption
AI is helping to solve an ancient mystery involving Mount Vesuvius. Here's how. Artificial intelligence is helping to solve an ancient mystery from the Roman Empire involving scrolls from a library that was buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79 not only wiped out Pompeii, but also the nearby town of Herculaneum. Deep beneath the surface where a villa previously existed, archaeologists in the 18th century found 1,800 papyrus scrolls in the only ancient library in the world that is still intact. Attempts to unravel some of the scrolls ended in ashes as the library was carbonized, Brent Seales, a computer scientist from the University of Kentucky, explained. "People didn't understand what they had. So, some scrolls were actually thrown away or burned and you can't put Humpty Dumpty back together again," Seales said. Archaeologists in the 18th century found papyrus scrolls in the only ancient library in the world that is still intact. CBS News But thanks to 21st-century technology, experts are now able to examine those still intact. That technology involved a particle accelerator in England. Scientists produced light that was 10 billion times brighter than the sun, much like an X-ray. AI was then used to identify ink, no matter how faint. "I thought to myself, if you can use that technology to see non-invasively inside a human body, why can't we see everything inside an artifact like a scroll?" Seales said. Deciphering the scroll They still needed humans to decipher what the letters mean. So Seales launched the Vesuvius Challenge, a global competition offering $700,000 in prize money. Three college students took it home, making history by being the first to extract words from a carbonized scroll, nearly 2,000 years old, that had been virtually unwrapped. Thanks to new technology, experts can examine the scrolls still intact. CBS News With hundreds more scrolls to go, Seales has launched a second phase of the competition. "With AI-inspired methods that are going to usher in, you know, new results that we've not dreamed of, I don't think renaissance is too strong a word," he said. Seales said he believes there could be more scrolls out there as archaeologists are just beginning to scratch the surface. "I believe the Villa of the Papyri, which has not been fully excavated, stands a really high chance of producing more books," he said. "So much remains for us to discover."
Arab Times
06-02-2025
- Science
- Arab Times
AI and scientists unite to decipher old scrolls charred by volcano
LONDON, Feb 6, (AP): Scientists hope a mix of artificial intelligence and human expertise will help decipher ancient scrolls carbonized by a volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago. Hundreds of papyrus scrolls were found in the 1750s in the remains of a lavish villa at the Roman town of Herculaneum, which along with neighboring Pompeii was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. The library of what's called the Villa of the Papyri has the potential to add immeasurably to knowledge of ancient thought if the scrolls, which have been rolled up into the size of a candy bar, could be read. The heat and volcanic ash from Vesuvius destroyed the town and preserved the scrolls, but in an unreadable state, turning them into charred fragile blocks that disintegrate if unrolled physically. Scholars and scientists have worked for more than 250 years on ways to decipher the scrolls, the vast majority of which are held in the National Library of Naples. In 2023, several tech executives sponsored the "Vesuvius Challenge' competition, offering cash rewards for efforts to decipher the scrolls with machine learning, computer vision and geometry. On Wednesday, the challenge announced a "historic breakthrough,' saying researchers had managed to generate the first image of the inside of one of the three scrolls held at Oxford University's Bodleian Library. University of Kentucky computer scientist Brent Seales, co-founder of the Vesuvius Challenge, said the organizers were "thrilled with the successful imaging of this scroll.' He said it "contains more recoverable text than we have ever seen in a scanned Herculaneum scroll.' The scroll was scanned by Diamond Light Source, a lab at Harwell, near Oxford, that uses a particle accelerator known as a synchrotron to create an intensely powerful X-ray. Scientists then used AI to piece together the images, search for ink that reveals where there is writing, and enhance the clarity of the text. The process led to a 3D image of the scroll that allowed experts to unroll it virtually, using a process called segmentation. AI, as it stands, has its limits. Little of the text has been deciphered so far. One of the few words that has been made out is the ancient Greek for "disgust.' Scholars are being encouraged to join in the effort to complete the text. "We are still at the beginning of a long process,' Peter Toth, the Cornelia Starks Curator of Greek Collections at the Bodleian, told The Associated Press. "We need better images, and they are very positive and very, very confident that they can still improve the image quality and the legibility of the text.' Toth also laid out his hope that the technology can be made available locally so that the other two fragile scrolls won't have to be transported to Diamond's headquarters. "Maybe there will be something which can be moved,' he said. "And then don't forget that there is like 1000 more scrolls in Naples.'
Sky News
06-02-2025
- Science
- Sky News
These ancient scrolls were charred by a volcano - are they now revealing their secrets?
Ancient scrolls charred by a volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago may finally be starting to reveal their secrets. UK scientists say they have made a historic breakthrough in their efforts to decipher the artefacts - with the assistance of AI. Hundreds of papyrus scrolls were found in the 1750s in the remains of a lavish villa at the Roman town of Herculaneum, which along with nearby Pompeii was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. While the heat and ash from the volcano was catastrophic for the town, it preserved the scrolls - though in an unreadable state. Scholars and scientists have been working for more than 250 years on ways to decipher the scrolls, which are too fragile to be unrolled physically. In 2023, several tech executives sponsored the "Vesuvius Challenge" competition, offering cash prizes for efforts to decipher the scrolls with technology. On Wednesday, the challenge announced a "historic breakthrough," saying researchers had managed to generate the first image of the inside of one of the three scrolls held at Oxford University's Bodleian Library. University of Kentucky computer scientist Brent Seales, co-founder of the challenge, said the organisers were "thrilled with the successful imaging of this scroll", saying it "contains more recoverable text than we have ever seen in a scanned Herculaneum scroll". The scroll was scanned by Diamond Light Source, a lab in Harwell, near Oxford, by using a particle accelerator known as a synchrotron to create an intensely powerful X-ray. AI was then used to piece together the images, searching for ink that reveals where writing is located. A 3D image of the scroll can then be formulated that allows experts to unroll it virtually. Little of the text has been deciphered so far. One of the few words that has been made out is the ancient Greek for "disgust". Peter Toth, a curator at the Bodleian Library, said: "We need better images, and they are very positive and very, very confident that they can still improve the image quality and the legibility of the text.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
These ancient scrolls were charred by a volcano - are they now revealing their secrets?
Ancient scrolls charred by a volcanic eruption 2,000 years ago may finally be starting to reveal their secrets. UK scientists say they have made a historic breakthrough in their efforts to decipher the artefacts - with the assistance of AI. Hundreds of papyrus scrolls were found in the 1750s in the remains of a lavish villa at the Roman town of Herculaneum, which along with nearby Pompeii was destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD. While the heat and ash from the volcano was catastrophic for the town, it preserved the scrolls - though in an unreadable state. Scholars and scientists have been working for more than 250 years on ways to decipher the scrolls, which are too fragile to be unrolled physically. In 2023, several tech executives sponsored the "Vesuvius Challenge" competition, offering cash prizes for efforts to decipher the scrolls with technology. On Wednesday, the challenge announced a "historic breakthrough," saying researchers had managed to generate the first image of the inside of one of the three scrolls held at Oxford University's Bodleian Library. University of Kentucky computer scientist Brent Seales, co-founder of the challenge, said the organisers were "thrilled with the successful imaging of this scroll", saying it "contains more recoverable text than we have ever seen in a scanned Herculaneum scroll". Read more from Sky News: The scroll was scanned by Diamond Light Source, a lab in Harwell, near Oxford, by using a particle accelerator known as a synchrotron to create an intensely powerful X-ray. AI was then used to piece together the images, searching for ink that reveals where writing is located. A 3D image of the scroll can then be formulated that allows experts to unroll it virtually. Little of the text has been deciphered so far. One of the few words that has been made out is the ancient Greek for "disgust". Peter Toth, a curator at the Bodleian Library, said: "We need better images, and they are very positive and very, very confident that they can still improve the image quality and the legibility of the text. "And then don't forget that there is like 1,000 more scrolls in Naples."
