Tuesday, February 06, 2024


ARCHAEOLOGY

Scholars use AI to read scrolls scorched by Vesuvius eruption



Rozina Sabur
Mon, 5 February 2024 

The Herculaneum Papyri, a library of scrolls, were buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD - Vesuvius Challenge

Classical scholars believe scrolls buried by Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago could soon be deciphered and “rewrite” our understanding of antiquity after a group of students used artificial intelligence to reveal charred text.

The Herculaneum Papyri, held in a library thought to belong to the family of Julius Caesar, were turned to charcoal when the Roman town was buried by the volcanic eruption in AD 79.

The collection is believed to contain thousands of ancient texts, possibly including works by Aeschylus, and Sappho, or even revelations around the early years of Christianity.


Since their discovery in 1752, most attempts to unfurl the charred scrolls and unlock their secrets have proved futile, with the carbonised lumps simply crumbling to ash.

The Herculaneum Papyri were turned to charcoal when the Roman town of Pompeii was buried by the volcanic eruption in AD 79 - Xantana/iStockphoto

But at least 15 passages have now been deciphered by three students who used AI to develop a tool that allowed them to identify the text from digital scans of a seared scroll.

Luke Farritor, a student from Nebraska, Youssef Nader a PhD student in Berlin, and Julian Schilliger, a scholar in Zurich, developed the tool in response to a global challenge set by Nat Friedman, a US tech executive, and academic Brent Seales.

The trio will share the $700,000 (£554,000) grand prize. Mr Farritor, a computer science student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, had already won $40,000 after he decoded the first letters on the scroll – spelling the Greek word for purple.

Since their discovery in 1752, most attempts to unfurl the charred scrolls and unlock their secrets have proved futile, - Vesuvius Challenge

Mr Farritor, 22, spent much of the last year developing a machine-learning model that could detect ultra-faint differences in the texture of the carbonised scrolls to identify the presence of ink not visible to the human eye.

He enlisted the help of Mr Nader and Mr Schilliger and was able to detect 15 passages comprising more than 2,000 characters, an estimated 5 per cent of the scrolls’ text.

The Herculaneum Papyri were buried inside a luxury villa believed to have belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a Roman senator whose daughter Calpurnia was married to Julius Caesar.

It constitutes the largest surviving library from the Greco-Roman world. Most of the texts that have proven legible have been attributed to the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus.

Thousands of the manuscripts were deemed irreparably damaged but classicists hope the technology could offer an invaluable window into antiquity, perhaps including texts related to Paul the Apostle, who is known to have passed through the region decades before the volcanic eruption.

“Some of these texts could completely rewrite the history of key periods of the ancient world,” Robert Fowler, a classicist and the chair of the Herculaneum Society, told Bloomberg.

“This is the society from which the modern Western world is descended.”

The students’ discovery is still being translated, but an early analysis suggests it is a philosophical treatise on the pleasure of food and music.

“In the case of food, we do not right away believe things that are scarce to be absolutely more pleasant than those which are abundant,” the author writes.

Prof Fowler and other experts believe the newly deciphered text to be another work by Philodemus.

A preliminary analysis has also confirmed that the text was never duplicated, meaning that it has gone unread since at least AD 79.

“It’s a situation that you practically never encounter as a classicist,” Tobias Reinhardt, a professor of ancient philosophy and Latin literature at the University of Oxford, told Bloomberg.

“The idea that you are reading a text that was last unrolled on someone’s desk 1,900 years ago is unbelievable.”

Mr Friedman, who launched the $1 million Vesuvius Challenge last year, set out with the ambition of encouraging people to develop AI software capable of reading four passages from a single scroll.

On the back of its success, his goal is to use the same techniques to decipher more scrolls, and, ultimately, “unlock all of them”.

Museum basement hid an ancient royal kitchen in Poland. See the 500-year-old discovery

Moira Ritter
Mon, February 5, 2024 at 11:49 AM MST·2 min read

Around the end of the 13th century, officials in Poland initiated the construction of a royal residence in the city of Poznań. The fort-like structure included brick walls, a tower, a square and an entrance from the south.

Since then, the sprawling hilltop site that started as a fortress has taken on many iterations. It’s most recent: the Museum of Applied Arts, which opened in 2017.

Now, a team of archaeologists from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań have started exploring the site — and have unearthed a number of ancient discoveries.


The team, led by professor Artur Różański, searched the basement of the museum’s administrative building, according to a Feb. 5 news release from the university. Although the building that now houses the museum’s administrative office was constructed in 1796, it was built atop older ruins.

In the basement, experts found the remains of what is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, preserved royal kitchens in Poland, the university said.

Archaeologists said it was previously assumed that the Royal Kitchen was a medieval residential tower, but the discovery of the approximately 30-by-36 feet building changes this understanding. Records from the time the kitchen was in use indicate that it had a well in the corner of the building.

The university shared photos of the ruins in their release and on Facebook.


Experts said the royal kitchen may be the oldest in Poland.

The kitchen dates back to 500 or 600 years ago, archaeologists said.

The kitchen dates back to the 14th or 15th century, according to the team.

A large pillar — about 9 feet by 11 feet — was also found in the building, Różański told Science in Poland, according to a Feb. 3 post. The pillar once held a kitchen stove and chimney to remove exhaust from the kitchen.

Experts also explored the castle’s courtyard area, the university said.

Archaeologists dug an approximately 10-by-13 feet trench that reached about 16 feet underground and unearthed more than 6,000 artifacts, including pottery, building ceramics and animal bones, they said. Among their finds were pieces of hypocaustum tile, which is evidence that the medieval castle was heated.

Poznań is about 190 miles west of Warsaw.

Google Translate was used to translate releases from Adam Mickiewicz University and Science in Poland.

‘Incredibly rare’ ancient Roman bed uncovered in London. See the ‘extraordinary’ find

Aspen Pflughoeft
Mon, February 5, 2024 

Underneath the bustling center of London sat an “incredibly rare” piece of furniture. For centuries, the ancient treasure went unnoticed. Not anymore.

Archaeologists in the United Kingdom began excavations near Holborn Viaduct to prepare for the construction of an office building, the Museum of London Archaeology said in a Feb. 5 news release shared with McClatchy News.

Digging into the “damp mud,” archaeologists uncovered an ancient Roman cemetery with five wooden coffins and a “complete” wooden funerary bed, the museum said.

The nearly 2,000-year-old bed is “made from high-quality oak,” has “carved feet, and joints fixed with small wooden pegs,” archaeologists said. Photos show the partially buried bedframe and a reconstruction of what it might have looked like.

An archaeologists excavates the ancient Roman bed. A smaller diagram shows what the bed might have looked like.

The ancient bed was “dismantled prior to being placed within the grave but may have been used to carry the individual to the burial and was likely intended as a grave good for use in the afterlife,” archaeologists said.

Funerary beds are known from depictions “across the Roman world,” the museum said. This bed, however, “is the first complete example ever discovered in Britain.”

Archaeologists described the ancient Roman bed and wooden coffins as “extraordinary” and “incredibly rare finds.”

Archaeologists excavate the ancient Roman wooden coffins.

“We know the Romans buried their dead alongside roads, outside of urban (centers),” Heather Knight, a project officer with the museum, said in the release. The site near Holborn Viaduct fit this pattern so “it was no great surprise to discover burials at this site.”

“However, the levels of preservation we’ve encountered — and particularly uncovering such a vast array of wooden finds — has really blown us away,” Knight said.

Excavations at the Roman cemetery also uncovered human remains, beads, a lamp and a glass jar, the museum said. A photo shows these smaller artifacts.

Smaller ancient Roman artifacts found at the site near Holborn Viaduct.

Archaeologists also unearthed more recent ruins at the site, including traces of a “medieval tanning workshop,” the museum said.

The ancient Roman empire invaded modern-day Britain in 43 A.D. and maintained control for about 400 years. The cemetery near Holborn Viaduct was used during this period.

Excavations are ongoing at the site and expected to finish in early 2024. Afterward, archaeologists will continue analyzing and conserving the finds.

The excavation site is near Holborn Viaduct in central London and about half a mile north of the Thames River.


Viking ruins hid beneath farmland for at least 900 years. Now, experts have found them

Moira Ritter
Mon, February 5, 2024 at 2:33 PM MST·2 min read

A small vehicle shuttled through an expansive, bright green field. From a distance, the vehicle, which resembled a golf cart, looked like nothing more than a means of transportation — but it was actually doing much more.

The vehicle was actually equipped with georadar tools and manned by archaeologists. As it drove through the sprawling farmland, it was sending signals into the ground in search of any ruins buried beneath the field.

Archaeologists were searching the area, part of a historic farm on the island of Klosterøy, according to a Feb. 4 news release from the University of Stavanger (UiS). They were searching for ruins left by Vikings after several metal detector finds in recent years unearthed objects related to trade, including weights and coins.

After scanning the farmland in September, experts learned that a collection of ancient structures are hidden underground, the university said. Archaeologists have so far identified pit houses and three pier or boathouse foundations.


Researchers identified several pit houses and three piers or boathouses, they said.

The pit house remains are typical of Scandinavian settlements from the Viking Age — which lasted from about the ninth century until the 11th century. Experts said these ruins typically include the remains of a floor surface, post holes or fireplaces.

Pit houses are often linked to workshops, but archaeologists said they have also found evidence of burial mounds, cooking pits and agricultural remains in their examination.

The georadar data also revealed several man-made burials, according to experts. They are large pits similar in shape and size to pits found at other Viking sites in Norway.


Archaeologists said traditional excavations are necessary to confirm their findings.

Researchers said their discovery indicates the site was likely a marketplace or trading center used by the Vikings.

While the georadar surveys provided archaeologists with valuable insight, they cannot confirm with certainty that the ruins belonged to a marketplace without traditional excavations, the university said.

Klosterøy is an island off the southeast coast of Norway.

Google Translate was used to translate a news release from UiS.

5,000-year-old human shelter — with bones and blades — discovered in Armenia. See it

Brendan Rascius
Mon, February 5, 2024 at 3:44 PM MST·1 min read

Researchers in Armenia recently uncovered a human shelter filled with artifacts that dates back thousands of years.

The ancient dwelling was discovered during the archaeological exploration of a rock shelter in the Yeghegis Valley in central Armenia.

The shelter — found in 2020 — featured a collapsed roof and wall-like structure, which appeared to have ancient origins, according to a study published on Feb. 1 in the journal Antiquity.

In 2022, a 6-foot-deep trench was dug next to the shelter entrance, revealing several distinct layers littered with signs of human activity.

Approximately 8,000 animal bone shards were found at the site, most of which belonged to goats and sheep, while others belonged to pigs, deer and cattle. An even smaller portion were traced to canines and bears.


Artifacts found at the site, including obsidian tools, bones and a copper pin

The bone shards from four separate layers were subjected to radiocarbon dating — the oldest of which dated back over 5,300 years.

Through this technique, researchers estimated the site was occupied by humans for at least 300 years.

About 2,000 other artifacts were also found, including pieces of copper, obsidian blades, beads and pottery.

“Preliminary results from the Yeghegis rockshelter underscore the potential of this site to provide important insights into human lifeways during the Chalcolithic,” also known as the Copper Age, researchers said.

Additional excavations are planned to further explore the site to shed light on ancient human activity in the region.

Ancient urn — still holding 2,500-year-old remains — unearthed during road
 construction

Moira Ritter
Mon, February 5, 2024 

At least 2,500 years ago, someone died and was cremated. Their ashes, feet bones and parts of their skull were then placed in an urn and buried in a sprawling cemetery in Poland.

That’s where the remains stayed — until recently when archaeologists discovered the ancient burial site amid road construction, according to a Feb. 5 release from the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways - Warsaw Branch.

Archaeologists working on three sections of a highway found the cremation cemetery in eastern Poland between Kałuszyn and Groszki, officials said. At the site, experts unearthed urns and pit graves.

Archaeologists found the artifacts just east of Warsaw. K Drewniak /General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways - Warsaw Branch

The cemetery dates to between the sixth century B.C. and the fifth century B.C., officials said. At that time, cremation was a common practice involving burning the deceased’s body, collecting their remains and placing them in a vessel that was then buried.

In one of the unearthed urns, archaeologists discovered foot bones at the bottom of the vessel and skull fragments at the top.

It was common practice to cremate the dead and bury their remains in urns or similar vessels, according to experts. General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways - Warsaw Branch

At another construction site near the cemetery, experts identified the remains of a 19th century brewery, according to officials.

Remains of the brewery’s foundation and floors were found at one of the construction sites, experts said. General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways - Warsaw Branch

Experts unearthed a hearth from one of the sites. General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways - Warsaw Branch

Remains of the structures foundations and floors were unearthed alongside glass pieces, ceramic artifacts and traces of plants used in beer. Evidence indicates that the brewery closed by the beginning of the 20th century, experts said.

The discoveries were made roughly 30 miles east of Warsaw.

Google Translate was used to translate a news release from the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways.


Mysterious ruins found hidden in courtyard of 500-year-old castle in Norway. See them

Aspen Pflughoeft
Mon, February 5, 2024
1
On a small island off the coast of Norway sat the ruins of a 500-year-old castle. The castle’s history was well-known and most of the structure had been extensively studied, but the courtyard hid a secret — until now.

Steinvikholm castle was built on Steinvikholmen island in the 1520s as a stronghold for a Catholic archbishop, according to the Large Norwegian Encyclopedia. The complex has a central courtyard surrounded by four wings and two round towers on opposite sides.

The central courtyard was the only part of the castle that archaeologists had not completely explored, the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research said in a Jan. 24 news release.

In a corner of the yard, the ground had collapsed, prompting speculation about a hidden structure, the manager of the regional antiquities association, Merethe Skjelfjord Kristiansen, said in the release.

Intrigued, archaeologists decided to scan the courtyard with ground penetrating radars to see if there was anything buried there.

There was.

An archaeologists scans the courtyard with a ground penetrating radar.

The radar scans identified the ruins of a structure buried just over 2 feet down, the release said. The fragmented structure was rectangular and measured about 26 feet by about 23 feet.

The ruins don’t connect to the surrounding castle or align with it, the institute said. Instead, the ruins probably belong to a separate building and are most likely older than the castle.

A pair of photos show the radar scans of the courtyard and the brown outline of the structure.

Archaeologists don’t know the exact age of the buried ruins or what purpose the structure served, the institute said.

The secret structure might be a hidden cellar or a temporary workshop used during the castle’s construction and then destroyed, archaeologists said.


The castle courtyard as seen in the radar scans (top) and with the outline of the buried ruins marked in brown (bottom).

Radar scans of the area outside the castle revealed traces of an old road and a well, the institute said.

A YouTube video shared by Ståle Kotte shows the Steinvikholm castle from above.

Steinvikholmen island is about 240 miles north of Oslo.

Google Translate was used to translate the news release from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) and the article from the Large Norwegian Encyclopedia.


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