$1,000,000 Ancient Scroll Challenge

[DwarkeshPatel]

There's more to this story! Check out the full episode featuring Nat Friedman on my channel.

[ruthgriffiths]

There are 1, 800 scrolls. The first scanned portion came through in February this year. About 5% of a single scroll is readable... so far. It really is rather exciting!

[skullsworld]

If you even plan on visiting these historical sites, I recommend Herculaneum over Pompeii. The italian government once owned Pompeii to preserve it and of course research it with famous archeologists. Italy was on the verge of bankruptcy and so the government sold it to a mafia familt who swore to preserve it and hire archeologists + scientists to keep it safe. That never happened, they got sloppy and didn't bother taking care of it so now there's damage in some of Pompeii that's beyond repair (graffiti etc) and those areas are closed off but you can still see the damage.

It's also why that infamous McDonald's is there witht the corpse underneath its glass floor. Italy really likes preservation and refuse to have fast food or any well known companies open up in specifc areas (such as Sorrento, very historical city and where some of my family live). But the mafia didn't care and allowed a McDonald's to open up

[JC-jihp]

This is mind blowing. Decoding ancient Roman scrolls WITHOUT ever unrolling them

Update: 19k for the most NPC comment I’ve ever typed. *Seething*

[thatfellafrazer]

Most won’t get just how incredibly massive this is for humanity.

[nickywags]

I visited there about a month ago and as a huge antiquity nerd I picked up a lot of the information there. Herculaneum was right next to the sea back in 79AD (today a few miles inland) It was kind of known as a sort of rich Roman beach town. That’s why powerful people had houses there. It was way different in layout and definitely just oozed wealth and power compared to the rough cobbled streets full of shops in Pompeii. It was buried (with just volcanic dust) in a slightly different way compared to Pompeii (dust and smaller stones in layers) which made it much harder to dig up. That’s why after its initial discovery in 1750 it was studied and talked about much less than Pompeii because it’s much easier to dig out Pompeii than it is Herculaneum. So while several square kilometers of the ancient city have been removed in Pompeii, Herculaneum has probably only one or two in a giant pit in the middle of the modern city. The house full of papyrus scrolls also wasn’t part of this main part of the city. It was owned by a philosopher who collected many works but it’s suggested that likely 50% to 75% of all the papyrus scrolls there were his own writings. They found it I think in the early 1800’s and have been trying to discover ways to read the scrolls since. There’s some old interesting engineering methods to slowly unroll the scroll back then. But like he said today our methods totally changed, we use AI and other methods to help figure out and read these burned scrolls. Most of the effort is done by an entire department at the University of Naples nearby. Very impressive work, I thought Herculaneum was much more impressive than Pompeii, so much better preserved in my opinion. The mosaics and colored frescos were so cool to see. Imagining it being painted almost 2000 years ago right in that spot

[OmerE.C]

People can't comprehend the amount of History beneath earth. Even the Egyptian Sphinx was mostly under sand, and got unearthed.
There's too much to be discovered, we especially need the ancient books. Alot of lost knowledge, especially due to war and abandonment need to be revived

[edwardlee]

Doubling the eras literature is incredible. Please translate the scrolls. Bet that there are some rad stories within the texts.

[SERAVIVA]

As a tech enthusiast and engineer, this is probably the best history related challenge I’ve seen since LiDAR and ground penetrating radar treasure hunting back in the 2010s!

[johnassal]

This was recently in the news because they learned that Plato's grave is located in the gardens of his academy. This was thought to be lost to time.

[pintomendez]

Very cool! I live 10 minutes by car from Herculaneum and 5 minutes from Pompei. I never get tired of visiting both towns. 🥰

[freesk]

I am still upset about the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. Imagine if this brings even a tenth of those volumes back! Wonderful!

[KyraAllDayEveryDay]

I got to attend a presentation at my college this professor did on his digital unwrapping project back in 2016. It was one of the coolest things I've ever had the privilege of learning about! I loved it so much I still have the little brochure that was passed out at the presentation.

[sarc]

The cool thing about Herculaneum, is that Pompeii is the main attraction. Most of Herculaneum isn't even roped off, you can duck right into a house. Just stay out of the way of ppl digging. Totally worth the side trip from Naples.

[zeevshaff]

This was the tech used to read some of the Dead Sea scrolls, it works wonders

[elessartelcontar]

Pliny the Elder was there. He was fascinated with it and hired a boat to sail towards its fury. His nephew, Pliny the Younger was watching his uncle. When it blew, and was obviously going to destroy the boat and snuff the uncle out, Pliny the Younger wrote that his uncle turned to watch it; "like a Roman".

[Cultureshockcrew]

My dad, my son, and I went to see the Pompeii exhibit at the Cincinnati museum center and it was incredible. Saw some of these scrolls in person. so glad we went.

[JockeyOC]

It was helpful that he explained what "doubling" was, as I was lost

[theth]

Radiolabs does a great podcast on tracking the people who got out before the ash fell. Definitely worth the listen

[rachelkoiks]

This kinda had me excited after learning of it but figured it’ll be decade(s) till A scroll is read & decoded. But wood tablets found in Londinium (aka London) and such are so well preserved that not only has the wood not disintegrated into nothing, but they’ve translated some wax notes on there that seem so.. modern.

It’s crazy how we’re not that different to people of 2000 yrs ago