Artificial intelligence is not just a technology for the future: it can also help us make discoveries in the past. Researchers at the University of Oxford have demonstrated this by using AI to decipher an ancient scroll.
The use of artificial intelligence in fields such as medicine or astronomy was already known. But in the field of archaeology, the examples we can think of are few, if any. And yet, AI does indeed help historians.
The recent discovery that was made in the laboratories of the University of Oxford proves it. In an article published at the beginning of February, two entities of the university, namely the Bodleian Library and the Vesuvius Challenge, announced that they had made a historic advance in the deciphering of a parchment scroll that has occupied scholars for 250 years.
The Mysteries of the Herculaneum Scrolls
The Herculaneum scrolls are made of papyrus. However, as they were found in the ruins of a Roman villa destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, they have been transformed into fragile sheets of charcoal that are impossible to unroll and unreadable as they are.
One of the three scrolls is housed in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford, and researchers have been trying to extract its contents for decades. But a major breakthrough came in July 2024, when the scroll was scanned using the Diamond Light Source, a synchrotron in Oxfordshire.
The synchrotron sent X-rays through the scroll, in order to digitise it without damaging it. But once again, the images still had to be interpreted: this is where artificial intelligence came into play.
A special ink, recognised by AI
“The Oxford Scroll, donated in the early 19th century by Ferdinand IV, King of Naples and Sicily, was unique among the Herculaneum materials because of the chemical composition of its ink, which appears more distinctly in X-ray scans,” the researchers explain. The “recipe” for this ink is unknown, but it may contain lead. One thing is certain: this characteristic is not present in the other scrolls.
The artificial intelligence used in this project is therefore responsible for detecting this very special ink in order to highlight the texts on the scroll. The University of Oxford insists that AI does not intervene in the transcription and translation of the texts, which are only carried out by specialised researchers from the Vesuvius Challenge.
The digitisation of the scroll, without unrolling it, revealed columns of text that remain very difficult to decipher. A first word was identified twice: the ancient Greek word διατροπή, meaning “disgust”. A timid beginning, but one that has excited researchers.
“We are delighted with the successful digitisation of this Bodleian scroll, and grateful to our partners for their support and collaboration,” said Dr Brent Seales, co-founder of the Vesuvius Challenge. “This scroll contains more recoverable text than any other Herculaneum scroll scanned to date. Despite these promising results, much work remains to improve our software methods to fully read this and other Herculaneum scrolls.” The Vesuvius Challenge would like to remind everyone who would like to help decipher the scroll’s contents can join the online community dedicated to this topic.
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