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First glimpse inside burnt scroll after 2k years

The document charred by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius is being 'unwrapped' using X-ray scans and AI.

But now scientists have used a combination of X-ray imaging and artificial intelligence to virtually unfurl it, revealing rows and columns of text. In the past, some of the documents, which are made from a thick paper-like material called papyrus, were prised open but they crumbled into pieces. Inside this huge machine, which is called a synchrotron, electrons are accelerated to almost the speed of light to produce a powerful X-ray beam that can probe the scroll without damaging it.

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