Preview | The Herculaneum Scrolls
Preview: Season 21 Episode 6 | 31sVideo has Closed Captions
Scientists attempt to read ancient scrolls carbonized by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Making headlines around the world, Brent Seales and his team of computer scientists set out on a mission to read the 2,000-year-old carbonized scrolls found in the remains of a villa in Herculaneum. Mt. Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 AD transformed the papyri, fusing together the layers of the scrolls and making them impossible to read. Can particle physics and AI finally reveal what the scrolls say?
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SECRETS OF THE DEAD is made possible, in part, by public television viewers.
Preview | The Herculaneum Scrolls
Preview: Season 21 Episode 6 | 31sVideo has Closed Captions
Making headlines around the world, Brent Seales and his team of computer scientists set out on a mission to read the 2,000-year-old carbonized scrolls found in the remains of a villa in Herculaneum. Mt. Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 AD transformed the papyri, fusing together the layers of the scrolls and making them impossible to read. Can particle physics and AI finally reveal what the scrolls say?
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipOn Secrets of the Dead... Papyrus scrolls buried in the ash of Mt.
Vesuvius.
- We have, for the first time ever, an ancient library.
Too fragile to unroll, artificial intelligence is offering new hope.
- I want to be able to read what's inside a scroll from Herculaneum without opening it.
And unlocking the secrets of ancient Roman life.
- The last time a human looked at this was an ancient Roman.
The Herculaneum Scrolls... on Secrets of the Dead.
[propulsive music]
Decoding the Herculaneum Scrolls: AI Meets Ancient Texts
Video has Closed Captions
Artificial intelligence is used to find out what some carbonized Herculaneum scrolls say. (3m 34s)
How Technology Revived Seneca the Elder
Video has Closed Captions
Researcher Valeria Piano discovers long-lost history of Rome written by Seneca the Elder. (2m 53s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
SECRETS OF THE DEAD is made possible, in part, by public television viewers.