Scientists burn papyrus to read ancient carbonized scrolls using X-ray scans
Researchers at Berkeley SETI burned modern papyrus scrolls in a furnace to test methods for reading the carbonized texts from Herculaneum.
Modern experiment replicates ancient disaster
Douglas Seiler sourced Egyptian papyrus and traditional ink before having students write on them. He then rolled the material and placed it inside a high-temperature furnace to burn it. This process mimicked how ash from Mount Vesuvius destroyed a library in Herculaneum during an eruption in A.D. 79.
Lead ink reveals hidden text
The team hypothesized that lead-based inks would stand out when scanned by an X-ray beam. Their paper published Sept. 16 in PLOS ONE confirms that minuscule amounts of lead make letters readable. Computer algorithms can virtually unroll the scroll to reveal the hidden text without damaging it.
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