GoKawiilStudy 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.
More than a thousand carbonized scrolls from Herculaneum remain the only intact library surviving from antiquity, and past physical unrolling attempts destroyed many of them. A reliable, non-destructive way to detect ink chemically, rather than relying solely on texture-based machine learning, could dramatically speed efforts to finally read these lost ancient texts.
- Scientists burned replica scrolls to test ink-detection methods safely.
- Detecting lead in the ink helps distinguish text from carbonized papyrus.
- The technique could accelerate ongoing efforts to digitally read Herculaneum's scrolls.
Source: feeds.nature.com — Simms, 2026-09-22
Published there as: “Watch scientists decipher burnt scrolls without unrolling them”
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