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Herculaneum

Ancient Roman town near Naples, buried by the 79 CE eruption of Vesuvius and excavated from the 18th century onward, including a villa library of papyrus rolls.

Current clusters

science3 publishers

A retired inventor charred homemade scrolls to find which Herculaneum rolls X-rays can read

The ink and the burned papyrus are both carbon, so X-rays struggle to tell letters from page. In a new PLOS One study, lead added to test ink showed up clearly, and the authors want unopened scrolls screened for it.

Perspective Coverage

3 publishers
Builder
Builder 50%
Operator
Operator 37%
Investor
Investor 13%

Reality

Evidence62
Adoption15
Hype gap+32
Incentives34
Confidence68