The ancient Herculaneum scrolls—charred and buried nearly two thousand years ago during Mount Vesuvius’s eruption—finally reveal their long-lost writings, thanks to the UK’s Diamond Light Source particle accelerator.
The effort follows a breakthrough last year when AI successfully read one of the 18 scrolls for the first time since it was entombed in 79 A.D. These latest scans reveal that at least five scrolls still contain visible ink, suggesting that fully deciphering the collection may now be more achievable than previously thought.
High Tech Dreams of the Ancient World
After 20 years of working on the problem, University of Kentucky computer scientist Brent Seales said, “It’s like a dream” to come so far. “It seems so impossible, and yet we’re doing it,” he added.
University of Kentucky computer scientist Stephen Parsons called the breakthrough “very promising.”
The Herculaneum scrolls are just the beginning—other ancient works are also slated for high-tech treatment. Last year, researchers scanned a papyrus housed at the University of Oxford, and next month, additional Herculaneum scrolls will be scanned in France.
Recovering Herculaneum
In the 18th century, archaeologists unearthed more than 1,800 papyri from the ruins of a Roman villa in Herculaneum. Before the professionalization of archaeology in the 20th century, early excavators often resembled treasure hunters more than modern scholars. Many scrolls were destroyed in crude attempts to open them, leaving only a few hundred intact today. While the contents remain largely unknown until the scrolls are read, scholars believe they may include lost Greek and Roman texts that could significantly expand our understanding of the ancient world.
“Everything we find is a surprise,” says Federica Nicolardi, a papyrologist at the University of Naples Federico II, who accompanied the scrolls on their journey to Diamond.
In 2023, Seales and entrepreneur Nat Friedman launched the Vesuvius Challenge, which rewards teams for scanning and deciphering unopened Herculaneum scrolls. A team of students that developed a tool to read a potentially lost work by the philosopher Philodemus received $700,000 for their effort. The Vesuvius Challenge is preparing to release its 2025 datasets and prize categories, including $200,000 for unrolling and reading a scroll and $60,000 for identifying a scroll’s title.
Delicate Work on Ancient Writings
So far, Diamond has imaged five of the 18 scrolls. Selection was carefully considered. First, researchers prioritized scrolls that were likely to contain complete works. They also chose scrolls with different physical distortions—one flattened and another crushed inward—to test the AI’s adaptability.
Transporting the fragile scrolls is a logistical challenge, as only a few facilities can perform high-resolution imaging. Each scroll was fitted with a custom-designed carrying case and protected with 3D-printed supports to ensure a snug, secure fit. Remarkably, the scans were performed with the scrolls still housed inside their cases, further protecting the ancient artifacts.
“It’s like papier mâché made out of glass,” said Seales. “If you dropped it, it would probably shatter.”
Digital Reconstruction
The 8-micrometer resolution scans began in late March, using a 53 keV X-ray beam to image the scrolls. Dozens of small sectional scans were compiled into a complete dataset for each scroll. From these, researchers are working to map and digitally unroll the scrolls’ surfaces.
While previous efforts required manual reconstruction, today’s researchers are developing automated solutions. One breakthrough involved repurposing imaging tools originally designed to trace neural connections, which have proven useful for identifying papyrus fibers in the scrolls.
“We’re getting really good at finding the fibers,” said Friedman. “From there, it’s much easier to find the surfaces.” With continued refinements, he added, “We’re seeing better and better results every week.”
Scrutinizing the Ink
Reading the scrolls remains challenging because the natural, carbon-based ink is nearly identical in density to the papyrus. Differentiating between the two requires training algorithms to detect subtle variations to produce legible visualizations.
In a fortunate breakthrough last year, one scroll scanned at Diamond immediately revealed visible ink. Early word fragments were matched to the style of the Greek philosopher Philodemus. However, much work remains to make the rest of the text clearly legible.
Revisiting Herculaneum
While most deciphered Herculaneum scrolls are written in Greek, Nicolardi hopes that more Latin texts will be found, of which only fragments have been recovered.
“We have the potential, for the first time, to read a whole Latin scroll,” said Nicolardi. “That’s huge.”
Nicolardi is selecting and designing transport cases for 50 additional scrolls scheduled to be scanned this May at France’s European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. If researchers succeed in scanning 100 scrolls this year, they’ll be on track to complete the digitization of the collection held at Italy’s Vittorio Emanuele III National Library by the end of next year.
Looking ahead, the Vesuvius Challenge team is considering returning to Herculaneum to excavate even more scrolls in the future.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.