Secrets of the Dead

S21E06 The Herculaneum Scrolls

Brent Seales and his team of computer scientists are making global headlines as they attempt to decipher 2,000-year-old carbonized scrolls unearthed from a villa in Herculaneum. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, the intense heat fused the papyrus layers together, leaving the scrolls unreadable for centuries. Now, the researchers are turning to particle physics and artificial intelligence in hopes of finally unlocking the ancient texts. Will these cutting-edge tools succeed where all else has failed?