New Way to Read Ancient Texts
The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD destroyed precious Roman documents, along with the city of Pompeii. Now scholars have discovered a new way to read the scorched remnants of these ancient texts.
In Utah, Brigham Young University researchers are using light-imaging technology originally designed for NASA to clean up the scrolls, making it possible to read documents dating back more than 2,000 years.
“Some scholars have told me they take 2 or 3 weeks to read a line of text,” says project leader Steven Booras. “When that first image came up, I have to admit I was thinking, ‘Hey, we’ve got something here.'”
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