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Secrets of the Dead

Decoding the Herculaneum Scrolls: AI Meets Ancient Texts

Reading the Herculaneum scrolls required multiple scientific steps that started with taking extremely high-resolution X-rays with a photon beam. Next, computer scientist Brent Seales created a deep-learning artificial intelligence program capable of examining the X-rays in minute detail. This examination identified which elements of the image were papyrus and which were ink.