Decoding the Herculaneum Scrolls: AI Meets Ancient Texts
Season 21
Episode 6
About the Episode
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.
Aired:
| Expires: | Runtime: 3m 34s
Recent Episodes
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Episode 1, Season 22<br> The Civil War's Lost Massacre
A search for the remains of Black Union soldiers murdered toward the end of the Civil War.| 55:23 -
Episode 6, Season 21<br> The Herculaneum Scrolls
Scientists attempt to read ancient scrolls carbonized by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.| 55:15
Extras
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A Gruesome Discovery in Rural Poland
In 2022, a team of archaeologists unearthed a strange burial in the Polish village of Pień.2:50 -
Reconstructing the Face of a 17-Century Woman
A forensic artist reconstructs the face of a woman buried as a vampire in 17-century Poland.1:44 -
Radar Technologies Aid in Search for Civil War Burial Site
A team searches for the remains of the soldiers slain in the Simpsonville Massacre.2:48 -
Remembering the Fallen Soldiers of the Simpsonville Massacre
The search for the remains of 5th U.S. Colored Cavalry in Kentucky begins.2:17 -
How Technology Revived Seneca the Elder
Researcher Valeria Piano discovers long-lost history of Rome written by Seneca the Elder.2:53 -
Another Composer in the Mozart Family?
Letters between siblings Wolfgang and Maria Anna Mozart suggest she, too, composed music.2:25 -
Clues in Maria Anna Mozart's Childhood Notebook
Is there evidence Maria Anna Mozart composed music recorded in her childhood notebook?1:30 -
Lost Treasures of Angkor
A discovery of gold and silver artifacts in Laos sheds light on the ancient Khmer Empire. -
Preview | Lost Treasures of Angkor – King's Gold
Priceless artifacts in Laos reveal holy sites from the early days of the Khmer Empire.0:32 -
Preview | Lost Treasures of Angkor – The Discovery
The discovery of priceless artifacts in Laos sheds light on the ancient Khmer Empire.0:32
