First words decoded from burnt scrolls that haven’t been read in nearly 2,000 years
The challenge of unearthing lost things and solving inscrutable puzzles is a driving force in the world of science.

Such breakthroughs rarely happen in the derring-do fashion of the "Indiana Jones" films that inspired me to search for lost cities in my childhood backyard.

Rather, some of the groundbreaking discoveries that peel back the layers of history are taking place in labs and on computer screens.

Artificial intelligence is even peering through the most impenetrable of artifacts: ancient, charred scrolls that are too delicate to be unfurled.
Scholars have deciphered some of the first words from a Herculaneum scroll burned and buried in AD 79 during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

One of the first words, written in ancient Greek, was translated to "disgust." It appears twice within a few columns of text.

The artifact is the fifth intact Herculaneum scroll to be virtually unrolled using AI and scans in the Vesuvius Challenge. The competition is spurring researchers to decode the wealth of information about ancient Rome and Greece contained within the papyri.

The as-yet-unknown chemical composition of the ink has made this particular scroll easier to read through X-rays, обучение арбитражу but scientists believe it may contain one particular ingredient.