Reckon you could decipher a set of ancient scrolls, which were charred in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius? If so, you could be entitled to a £400,000 prize.
The Herculaneum Scrolls could offer a tantalising glimpse into the past, but reading them has been a huge challenge for experts so far.
The scrolls were carbonised by the eruption in AD 79 and are thought to feature literature from Greek and Roman scholars.
Unfortunately, they’re incredibly fragile and would turn to dust the moment anyone tried to open them.
Vesuvius Challenge
So, instead of asking people to try and open the scroll and decipher them in a physical sense, instead experts are now calling on engineers to develop AI that can read the scrolls via scanning methods.
It comes after experts at the University of Oxford were able to recover some of the text on the scroll officially referred to as PHerc.172 after using x-rays and ink detection software.
The scrolls were charred by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii in AD 79iStock
“A human hand wrote this text 2,000 years ago, and it’s an unforgettable experience to be the first person in that time to see it,” scientists from the University of Oxford said.
While it’s sure to prove challenging, the president has already been set – another one of the scrolls at the Institut de France in Paris was deciphered using AI by students, who won a prize of $700,000 (£550,000).
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