Peer inside the Herculaneum scroll for the first time in 2,000 years: Scientists use AI to virtually unfurl a 'badly burnt' manuscript that was charred during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

It's been left unread for nearly 2,000 years, last glimpsed when the Roman Empire ruled over Europe. Now, scientists have used AI to virtually unfurl one of the Herculaneum scrolls – the ancient documents buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. 172, one of three Herculaneum scrolls now housed at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford These ancient rolls of papyrus are thought to contain profound philosophical and literary texts from ancient Greek and Roman scholars Scientists used Diamond Light Source to create 3D scans and a digital reconstruction of scroll PHerc.172, one of three Herculaneum scrolls housed at Bodleian Libraries. The strides made to unroll this scroll mark a significant step forward in our ability to recover texts from the ancient world, according to academics Scientists used Diamond Light Source to create 3D scans and a digital reconstruction of scroll PHerc.172, held at Oxford's Bodleian Library Even if scientists were able to physically unfurl the scroll, these ink markings would be invisible to the naked human eye due to the burnt papyrus How AI virtually unfurls Herculaneum scrolls Firstly, at the Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire, x-rays are shot at the scrolls to create scans and a 3D reconstruction. Abbot Piaggio's machine was used to unroll scrolls as early as 1756 in the Vatican Library - but it 'destroyed a lot of the work' Professor Graziano Ranocchia of the University of Pisa said: 'Thanks to the most advanced imaging diagnostic techniques, we are finally able to read and decipher new sections of texts that previously seemed inaccessible' Hundreds of the scrolls - scorched in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius - were destroyed during early attempts to unroll them Modern attempts have focused on digital methods to read the texts without physically unrolling the papyri to prevent damage.