Scientists use MRI at Kadlec to look at ancient Roman scrolls

Tri-City Herald ^ | Thursday, Jul. 10, 2008 | Sara Schilling

[SunkenCiv]

The director of MRI and radiology at Kadlec Medicl Center watched a TV documentary years ago about efforts to read the ancient scrolls and the story stuck with him. This week, Iuliano is using his expertise to scan fragments of the charred scrolls in hopes of discovering what they say... The papyrus scrolls were discovered more than 200 years ago in a villa in what was the Roman town of Herculaneum. The town was buried along with the more famous city of Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted. The scrolls make up the only surviving library from antiquity, Iuliano said. Scholars have been able to unfold and read some of them, but others are like charcoal bricks. Iuliano had the idea of using Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or MRI, to differentiate between the layers of those heavily damaged scrolls without having to handle them. He also hoped to distinguish the ink from the papyrus. He eventually connected with Brent Seales, a professor of computer science at the University of Kentucky, who's developing software and hardware to allow for that kind of virtual archeology. They agreed to work together... The fragments also were scanned Wednesday at Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, which is at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 7/11/2008.

• Experts urge race against time to unearth last secrets of Herculaneum s lost library [2002]
• Herculean task for modern scholars - More on the Discovered Roman Literature being unearthed. [2002]
• Ancient Roman Villa May Hold World's Richest Literary Treasure [2002]
• Focus: The search for the lost library of Rome [2005]
• Focus: The search for the lost library of Rome [2005]
• New hope in hunt for Roman library [2005]
• Millionaire to fund dig for lost Roman library [Villa of the Papyri] [2005]
• Battle for the books of Herculaneum (1 of finest libraries of the ancient world, covered in Lava) [2005]
• Rare Ancient Wooden Throne Found in Herculaneum (Buried by Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius) [2007]
• In search of Western civilisation's lost classics [2008]
• In search of Western civilisation's lost classics (Herculaneum) [2008]
• UK to 'unroll' papyrus scrolls buried by Vesuvius [Kentucky prof has non-invasive scanning technique [2009]
• Unlocking the scrolls of Herculaneum [2013]
• X-ray technique 'reads' burnt Vesuvius scroll [2015]
• Metallic ink used in the Herculaneum scrolls [2016]

[steve86]

I am a mile from Kadlec Medical Center and well acquainted with PNNL but haven’t heard any more about this.

[SunkenCiv]

Well, it was a while ago, now, and I'm not sure how well it worked. The technology keeps coming along, and they keep trying non-invasive techniques, which is a huge improvement. Most of the scrolls which have been opened since the cache was found in the 1750s have been destroyed using invasive methods.