On rare occasions, archeology has a competition to unravel mysteries of Ancient Rome.
Its name is ‘Vesuvius Challenge’ and its website explains that this is a challenge that seeks to make history. He aim is as simple as it is complicated: getting read the contents of a scroll coming from the library of the ancient city of Herculaneumwhich fell victim to the eruption of the mythical volcano.
However the price it’s so appetizing, max $250,000that we bet that many researchers of the ancient world are willing to get down to work to decipher he object content millennial. There are many active volcanoes in Spain, but none of them is as legendary as the one that exploded furiously in AD 79.
Scrolls, scanners and a mystery to decipher
Nat Friedman is the former CEO of GitHub and the person, along with various scientists, behind this challenge. The amount of $250,000in different awardsis the one that separates the lucky winner from glory. Those who decide to participate in this ‘Vesuvius Challenge’ they will also have aid in form of 3D X-ray scannerswhich has been taken from two parchments and which are the property of the Institute of France, as well as scanners and images of three pieces of papyrus from the same site where the scrolls were found.
We’re using a particle accelerator and AI to read a lost library from a dead empire.
People have been trying to read the Herculaneum Papyri for 275 years.
With your help, we’ll do it in 2023.
Thrilled to announce the Vesuvius Challenge: https://t.co/KYVyona2fW pic.twitter.com/Fl8o0kp1O6
— Nat Friedman (@natfriedman) March 15, 2023
He challenge will last what’s left of the year 2023 and in these months they will have the opportunity to extract the information that is hidden inside these old rolls of paper. Those responsible for the challenge ensure that to meet the goal all can be used methods within reach of the participants, both computer vision techniques and automatic learning and, we imagine, resorting to the hackneyed artificial intelligence, which lately is on everyone’s lips. Yes indeed, they will only have access to the upper half of the scrolls.
Once it has been verified that their methodology is interesting and effective enough, they will be given access to the rest of the content of the scrolls. Scientists from the University of Kentucky have already managed to extract information of the scrolls, but they need help to ensure that what is hidden in said old papers, in the end, is revealed. He winning teamin order to obtain the dizzying sum of money, you must read the four passages of text from the scrolls and go through the scrutiny of a group of experts technicians. If archeology is your passion, why not try to decipher a scroll from almost 2,000 years ago.