Archaeologist

Cairo — Just weeks after an Egyptian-Japanese archaeological team announced an ambitious project to reconstruct the outer granite casing of the pyramid of King Menkaure, the smallest of the three main pyramids at Egypt's iconic Giza Necropolis, a committee appointed to review the plans has declared it "impossible."Criticism and fear over the plans for the piece of Egyptian national heritage started to spread online and in the media as soon as the project was announced last month.The plan had been to dig out and examine dozens of large granite blocks from around the base of the pyramid, with the aim being to eventually reinstall them around the pyramid's exterior to restore it to what it's believed to have looked like when it was built more than 4,000 years ago. Visito...

Three researchers this week won a $700,000 prize for using artificial intelligence to read a 2,000-year-old scroll that was scorched in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. One expert said the breakthrough could "rewrite the history" of the ancient world. The Herculaneum papyri consist of about 800 rolled-up Greek scrolls that were carbonized during the 79 CE volcanic eruption that buried the ancient Roman town of Pompeii, according to the organizers of the "Vesuvius Challenge."Resembling logs of hardened ash, the scrolls, which are kept at Institut de France in Paris and the National Library of Naples, have been extensively damaged and even crumbled when attempts have been made to roll them open. As an alternative, the Vesuvius Challenge carried out high-...

Tag: Archaeologist

Latest: Team planning to rebuild outside of King Menkaure’s pyramid in Egypt told “it’s an impossible project”

Latest: Words on mysterious scroll buried by Mount Vesuvius eruption deciphered for first time after 2,000 years