Italians read unopened scroll from Herculaneum

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Clive
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Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:20 pm

Italians read unopened scroll from Herculaneum

Post by Clive »

"We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
Roger Pearse
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Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2013 10:26 am

Re: Italians read unopened scroll from Herculaneum

Post by Roger Pearse »

Very useful. Here's to more!
Clive
Posts: 1197
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:20 pm

Re: Italians read unopened scroll from Herculaneum

Post by Clive »

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/15012 ... s6895.html
Hundreds of papyrus rolls, buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD and belonging to the only library passed on from Antiquity, were discovered 260 years ago at Herculaneum. These carbonized papyri are extremely fragile and are inevitably damaged or destroyed in the process of trying to open them to read their contents. In recent years, new imaging techniques have been developed to read the texts without unwrapping the rolls. Until now, specialists have been unable to view the carbon-based ink of these papyri, even when they could penetrate the different layers of their spiral structure. Here for the first time, we show that X-ray phase-contrast tomography can reveal various letters hidden inside the precious papyri without unrolling them. This attempt opens up new opportunities to read many Herculaneum papyri, which are still rolled up, thus enhancing our knowledge of ancient Greek literature and philosophy.
"We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
Clive
Posts: 1197
Joined: Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:20 pm

Re: Italians read unopened scroll from Herculaneum

Post by Clive »

My impression is that this work can be done quite quickly but money needs spending. Crowd funding and a seti type operation.
"We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
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