Study finds lead in ancient ink helps read Herculaneum scrolls without unrolling them

Researchers created replica papyrus scrolls, inscribed and burned them to mimic scrolls buried by the Vesuvius eruption in AD 79, then showed they could detect the ink by identifying trace lead within it using X-ray techniques. This approach helps overcome a longstanding problem in which carbon-based ink is nearly indistinguishable from the carbonized papyrus itself under standard CT scanning.