You Can Now Use AI to Read Ancient Texts and Win $1 Million

AI Reads Ancient Texts

AI is reading ancient texts, opening up an inspirational new world of lost and hidden knowledge. There are volumes of unknown history, philosophy, science, and literature out there waiting for us to explore. But that can be nearly impossible to do when that knowledge is written on fragmented stone tablets or badly damaged scrolls and papyrus.

AI is taking this problem on and making amazing strides toward solving the issue, and there is currently a million-dollar cash prize for anyone who can decipher these ancient texts using AI.

How is AI Decoding Ancient Texts?

Three innovations have played a large role in how AI decodes ancient texts and unveils hidden information. They are multispectral imagery, virtual unwrapping, and an exciting new application that scientists have called the AI Historian.

• Multispectral Imagery: This technique filters an image down to highlight only specific wavelengths. When a document, written on delicate animal skin was cleaned off and reused, one layer of text was often on a different wavelength than another. Multispectral imagery makes it possible to virtually remove a layer of text to read what was written underneath it.

• Virtual Unwrapping: This approach involves taking CT scans of ancient texts. Multiple X-rays on all sides of an ancient scroll allow computer technology to create a digital 3D image of that scroll that can be recreated as a flat sheet, as it would appear when unrolled. This is especially critical for scrolls and other documents that can’t be opened without severe damage.

• The AI Historian: One of the most exciting releases is the AI Historian known as Ithaca. This online application allows scientists to enter ancient text directly into a website for analysis. The algorithms will examine the text and offer suggestions for missing sections of text, probabilities for the accuracy of those suggestions, and even predictions as to where and when the ancient text may have been written.

In spite of all these fantastic revolutions, some ancient writings remain elusive. Among these texts are The En-Gedi Scroll and the Herculaneum Scrolls. These ancient scrolls in particular proved very challenging to decipher before the advent of AI.

What are the Herculaneum Scrolls?

The Herculaneum scrolls are texts that had been buried in Herculaneum, an ancient city in Rome. The same volcanic eruption that covered the famous Italian city of Pompeii in 79 AD also buried the ancient city of Herculaneum. The volcano that did this is still active today and is known as Mount Vesuvius

Where Were the Herculaneum Scrolls found?

The Herculaneum scrolls were found under the remains of a luxurious villa, thought to have been the home of Julius Cesar’s father-in-law.

The scrolls lay underneath nearly 20 feet of volcanic ash and hardened mud until the villa was accidentally discovered by a farmer digging a well in 1750 AD. It was the very best of ironies that this centuries-long encasement both destroyed the scrolls and saved them at the same time.

The heat of the volcanic ash and the pressure of burial left the scrolls charred, carbonized, and badly compressed. Early attempts to unroll and read them resulted in the destruction of the scrolls. But had they not been buried; they likely would have disintegrated a long time ago. Although the scrolls couldn’t be opened, the writing on them still exists inside, making AI deciphering methods extremely important.

The En-Gedi Scroll

Dr. Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky, has spent many years using the virtual unwrapping method to try to retrieve information hidden inside carbonized scrolls. He and his team had significant success with a scroll found in the remnants of an ancient synagogue in En-Gedi, Israel.

Like the scrolls at Herculaneum, it was charred and compressed from years of burial and could not be unrolled without severe damage. Using Dr. Seale’s methods, his team was able to determine that the scroll was one of the oldest-known copies of the book of Leviticus from the Biblical Old Testament.

What is the Difference Between the Herculaneum Scrolls and the En-Gedi Scrolls?

The Herculaneum scrolls proved harder to decipher because the ink used to write the text was carbon-based and comprised of charcoal and water. This made it nearly impossible to read on a papyrus that, with age and damage, was now the same color as the ink.

On the other hand, the En-Gedi scroll was written with lead-based ink that had a high metal content. This composition made the letters shine brightly in the CT scan images.

Dr. Brent Seales and the team realized that even slight differences in texture could make it clear where the ink exists on the paper. They called this ‘crackle’.

Now, all they needed was to determine how to use these texture changes to read the words that were formed.

The Vesuvius Challenge: Win 1 Million Dollars!

Dr. Seales and his team realized they would have a better chance of recovering all that ancient knowledge faster if they brought other minds and ideas to the table. So, they developed the Vesuvius Challenge.

This was a worldwide contest open to anyone who wanted to take a shot at this difficult challenge. The contest is organized into phases in which cash prizes are to be awarded to successive accomplishments, including the first person to successfully identify ink and the first to identify letters. Then the team released their already existing scans and code to the contestants.

It wasn’t long before nearly 1,500 contestants in various places were hard at work on the problem. Soon, one of those contestants was reading the first word on one of the scrolls: purple.

The ‘Purple’ Breakthrough

Luke Farritor was the first to develop a ground-breaking machine-learning algorithm that could scan the scrolls and identify Greek letters. 

When the 21-year-old computer science student from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln ran his algorithm over a piece of scroll image with some very clear crackle, it took only an hour to successfully identify five Greek letters.

It was only a few days before refinements to his model allowed the word to be clearly identified as ‘purple’.

Now that Luke has taken the Vesuvius Challenge’s ‘first letter’ prize of $40,000 for reading ten characters, the race is almost won. The only prize left is the $700,000 grand prize, which will go to the first contestant to read four or more passages from a closed scroll. The deadline for that award is December 31, 2023.

Of course, the real prize will be the ability to read all those ancient texts. And there may be much more to come than we realize. The ancient city of Herculaneum is still being excavated and experts have predicted there could be thousands of scrolls still waiting to be discovered.

Dr. Seales says the mood of the team is “unbridled optimism”. It’s only a matter of time before they’re reading entire scrolls, and unlocking the long-hidden wisdom and knowledge of our ancestors.