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