Interior of Burnt Herculaneum Scroll Read For First Time

New submitter Solandri writes: When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79, it destroyed a library of classical works in Herculaneum. The papyrus scrolls weren't incinerated, but were instead carbonized by the hot gases. The resulting black carbon cylinders have mostly withstood attempts to read their contents since their discovery. Earlier attempts to unfurl the scrolls yielded some readable material, but were judged too destructive. Researchers decided to wait for newer technology to be invented that could read the scrolls without unrolling them.

Now, a team led by Dr. Vito Mocella from the National Research Council's Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (CNR-IMM) in Naples, Italy has managed to read individual letters inside one of the scrolls. Using a form of x-ray phase contrast tomography (abstract), they were able to ascertain the height difference (about 0.1mm) between the ink of the letters and the papyrus fibers which they sat upon. Due to the fibrous nature of the papyrus and the carbon-based ink, regular spectral and chemical analysis had thus far been unable to distinguish the ink from the paper. Further complicating the work, the scrolls are not in neat cylinders, but squashed and ruffled as the hot gases vaporized water in the papyrus and distorted the paper.

Comments

Primum scribee / first post

[jblues]

The scrolls were found to contain long-winded, mostly irrational arguments regarding the contents of another (unseen) scroll. Each began with the phrase: 'primum scribe'

Re: Primum scribee / first post

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a rant about systemd.

initial translation of the text

[Tumbleweed]

"If you don't copy this scroll and send it to ten people within the next 24 hours, you will die in a volcano eruption!"

Elect that dude prez

[Tablizer]

Earlier attempts to unfurl the scrolls yielded some readable material, but were judged too destructive. Researchers decided to wait for newer technology to be invented that could read the scrolls without unrolling them.

Wow, somebody actually planned ahead instead of dived in face first making a mess to get first publishing credit.

There is hope for (some of) humanity after all.

Re:The only readable phrase so far

[Tablizer]

They called it being "Rick Scrolled" back then.

Re:This is incredibly exciting

[PRMan]

The New Testament is very common with 5,000 Greek copies (and all within 400 years of the events, some within 100 years). But after that it drops off quickly. There are 643 copies of Homer's Iliad, but the closest to his writing is over 500 years. There are only 20 copies of Tacitus, but the closest is 1,000 years later. We have only 7 copies of Plato and 5 of Aristotle.

All that to say we might find something incredibly significant in this library. Something we have never had before or something that is a much older copy of something that we already have against which we can check accuracy.