SECRETS OF THE DEAD: The Herculaneum Scrolls

By Jennifer Robinson / Web Producer

Published October 11, 2024 at 4:28 PM PDT

Professor Brent Seales and Seth Parker looking at papyri scans on a computer.

Stream now with KPBS Passport on KPBS+ / Watch Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2026 at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV

Uncover the groundbreaking science being used by computer scientist Brent Seales as he attempts to be the first person in nearly 2,000 years to read inside hundreds of carbonized ancient scrolls found at the archaeological site of Herculaneum in Italy.

Making headlines around the world, Brent Seales and his team of computer scientists set out on a mission to read the 2,000-year-old carbonized scrolls found in the remains of a villa in Herculaneum. Mt. Vesuvius’s eruption in 79 AD transformed the papyri, fusing together the layers of the scrolls and making them impossible to read. Can particle physics and AI finally reveal what the scrolls say?

Brent's work combines cutting-edge scanning techniques with his own artificial intelligence software, to attempt to teach a computer to read inside the scrolls without ever having to open them.

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Reading the Herculaneum scrolls required multiple scientific steps that started with taking extremely high-resolution X-rays with a photon beam. Next, computer scientist Brent Seales created a deep-learning artificial intelligence program capable of examining the X-rays in minute detail. This examination identified which elements of the image were papyrus and which were ink.

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In war-torn Mosul, archaeologists unearth the largest-known image of the ancient Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. This is the first time an image of a major god has been discovered inside an Assyrian palace.

Credits: A production of Impossible Factual and The WNET Group, in association with ZDF Studios, Channel 5, SBS Australia, and France Télévisions. Narrated by Jay O. Sanders. Produced and Directed by Adam Luria. Edit Director is Ed Baranski. Executive Producers for Impossible Factual are Jonathan Drake and Steve Maher. For SECRETS OF THE DEAD: Benjamin Phelps is supervising producer; Stephanie Carter is executive producer; Stephen Segaller is executive in charge.

Researcher Valeria Piano employs two different technological methods to decipher a carbonized scroll from Herculaneum. First, she uses a microscope to examine the texts, and then she studies images of the scrolls produced with infrared light. Her work has brought to light a history of Rome written by Seneca the Elder, long thought to have been lost forever.

SECRETS OF THE DEAD: The Herculaneum Scrolls

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