Can technology unravel the secrets sealed by Mt. Vesuvius 2,000 years ago?
Scholars believe the damaged scrolls of Herculaneum could contain lost works of Greek philosophy, Roman poetry, or early Christian writings
2018 Apr 01
You've heard of Pompeii, the ancient Roman city destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. Less well known is the neighboring city of Herculaneum, also buried by the volcano. When the city was re-discovered in the 1700s, excavators found what could be the richest repository of ancient Western wisdom: a library filled with papyrus scrolls. Scholars think there could be unknown Greek and Latin masterpieces, possibly early Christian writings, even the first references to Jesus. The problem is, the volcanic heat left the scrolls so charred and brittle, no one has been able to open them without breaking them into pieces. We heard three scholars might finally have found a way to unravel the mystery of the scrolls. So we traveled to Italy to see what we could uncover about the scrolls of Herculaneum.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/herculaneum-scrolls-can-technology-unravel-the-secrets-sealed-by-mt-vesuvius-2000-years-ago/
