Many attempts have been made to unroll the carbonized scrolls since they were excavated in 1752. But all were highly destructive, and scholars eventually decided to leave the scrolls alone in the hope that better methods would be invented....
Researchers led by Vito Mocella, of the Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems in Naples, Italy, now say that for the first time, they can read letters inside the scrolls without unrolling them. Using a laserlike beam of X-rays from the European Synchrotron in Grenoble, France, they were able to pick up the very slight contrast between the carbonized papyrus fibers and the ancient ink, soot-based and also made of carbon.
January 21, 2015
Figuring out how to read the "cylinders of carbonized plant material" that were once scrolls in the library of the father-in-law of Julius Caesar...
... in "a villa in Herculaneum, a town that was destroyed in A.D. 79 by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that obliterated nearby Pompeii."
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Using a laserlike beam of X-rays from the European Synchrotron in Grenoble, France
Shoot Higgs bosons at it.
This is amazing. Clearly, they'll never unroll those cylinders, but to be able to peer through the material, and time, to read words off a charred scroll from a distant age is wondrous.
They can make out letters but there's still a long way to go. But maybe we will eventually be able to read long-lost Greek or Roman works.
But if I had to bet I'd put my money on most or it turning out to be lots and lots of porn.
Worse than porn, philosophy.
Does this mean that one day we'll be able to understand what's going on inside Obama's brain?
"But if I had to bet I'd put my money on most of it turning out to be lots and lots of porn."
Congratulations, Big Mike. First images released show you winning your bet.
If I understand it correctly, all the letters from the different parts of the rolled-up papyrus are overlain in the imagery. That'll be quite a feat to untangle it. Someone's PhD thesis in Classics, I'd guess.
Very cool.
Classic dilemma in archaeology: to dig and disturb and learn or don't dig and wait for better technology. Nah! Gotta dig to get more grant money and prove your worth.
...they were able to pick up the very slight contrast between the carbonized papyrus fibers and the ancient ink, soot-based and also made of carbon.
Trace elements in the soot-based ink (more easily seen by X-Rays than carbon) should also be enriched wherever the ancient scribes touched the paper.
Delicate work!
The Flat Scrollers now claim to be reading floating letters of the alphabet inside the rolled up scrolls.
What are the secret messages? Only the Flat Scrollers know.
It's a scroll. If they can read the whole thing that will be amazing.
"what is all that smoke coming out of the mountain?"
@Meade, I really did LOL. I'll still be chuckling when I drive home tonight.
"I told my daughter, Calpurnia, not to marry you, you bum! Mark my words...nothing will come of you!"
MM, I think they can take circular sections and unroll them in the computer.
St. George said...
Does this mean that one day we'll be able to understand what's going on inside Obama's brain?
I doubt even a laser=like beam of X-rays could read such a small, twisted, and atrophied object.
Plato is said to have authored a long lost treatise on the dangers of big government. Let's hope these researchers are not politically correct.
Maybe it's philosophy porn.
Kzookitty
phormer philosopher
One of the more fascinating uses of obsolete particle accelerators. I think I read that Stanford's SLAC SPEAR ring had been repurposed as a tunable X-Ray beam source.
Though, these days, you can probably buy a synchrotron light source on Amazon.
"Olive oil
Fish
Aurugula
Grapes
Toilet paper"
@Meade: The porn picture you posted was actually from the sport shirt worn by Eratosthenes of Cyrene when he announced that he had determined the diameter of the Earth. His measurement was ignored by all right-thinking Greeks and Romans because the shirt was judged to be politically incorrect.
I am not an ancient robot.
Palimpsests take all sorts of forms.
Zoetrope Porn. Zoetrope Porn. Hmm.
Speaking of cylinders of carbonized plant material, how about 1st century paper mache mummy masks made out of stuff like the Gospel of Mark.
Now that is some fascinating shit.
I've been to Pompeii twice -- once in 1979 and again in 1992. The second time, I was impressed at how much new digging had progressed and how much more careful they are now -- essentially digging with spoons and paint brushes.
If you want to read about another fascinating Roman relic which sadly got destroyed, I suggest the Ships of Nemi.
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