AI helps read papyrus scroll burnt to crisp during Vesuvius eruption
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#1
An ancient papyrus scroll, charred beyond recognition during the catastrophic Vesuvius eruption nearly two millennia ago, has been virtually unwrapped and deciphered using advanced AI technology.
一卷在將近兩千年前維蘇威火山災難性噴發期間被燒得焦黑、無法辨認的古代紙莎草書卷，已利用先進的人工智慧技術，在虛擬世界中被展開並解密。
#2
Researchers successfully revealed twenty columns of hidden text spanning over one metre of carbonised papyrus, all without physically unrolling the extraordinarily fragile document.
研究人員成功揭示了長達一公尺多碳化紙莎草紙上的二十欄隱藏文字，而這一切完全是在沒有物理展開這份極其脆弱文獻的情況下完成的。
#3
The breakthrough represents a landmark achievement in the application of machine learning to classical archaeology and manuscript preservation.
這項突破代表了將機器學習應用於古典考古學和手稿保存的一個里程碑式成就。
#4
The scroll, designated PHerc 1667, contains a discourse on Stoic philosophy addressing ethics, art, and human behaviour, dating to the second or late third century BC.
這卷被命名為 PHerc 1667 的卷軸包含一篇關於斯多葛學派哲學的論述，探討倫理、藝術和人類行為，其年代可追溯至公元前二世紀或三世紀晚期。
#5
Were it not for this innovative technology, such philosophical insights would have remained permanently inaccessible within the blackened papyrus.
若非這項創新技術，這些哲學洞見將永遠無法在焦黑的紙莎草卷中被世人讀取。
#6
The document is among the oldest in a collection of hundreds recovered from the private library of a luxurious Roman villa in Herculaneum.
這份文獻是從赫庫蘭尼姆一座奢華的羅馬別墅私人圖書館中，所發現的數百件回收文物中最古老的之一。
#7
The villa's library was engulfed by searing heat and subsequently buried under volcanic ash when Vesuvius destroyed the neighbouring city of Pompeii in AD 79.
當維蘇威火山於公元 79 年摧毀鄰近的龐貝城時，這座別墅的圖書館被灼熱的烈火吞噬，隨後被埋在火山灰之下。
#8
Centuries of deterioration and misguided handling had taken a devastating toll on the scroll, which at some point broke in half.
數百年的劣化與不當的處理已對這卷卷軸造成了毀滅性的打擊，而它在某個時間點折成了兩半。
#9
Previous attempts to unwrap the document physically had caused its outer layers to flake off or disintegrate entirely, leaving a fragment merely eight centimetres tall and two centimetres wide.
先前試圖以物理方式展開該文獻的嘗試，已導致其外層剝落或完全瓦解，僅留下一個高度僅八公分、寬度僅兩公分的碎片。
#10
Doctor Federica Nicolardi, a papyrologist at the University of Naples Federico the Second, emphasised the significance of the accomplishment.
那不勒斯腓特烈二世大學的紙莎草學家費代麗卡·尼科拉迪博士強調了這項成就的重大意義。
#11
She argued that although the full scroll no longer exists, the fact that researchers were able to unwrap the surviving object completely demonstrates the viability of this technique.
她主張，雖然完整的卷軸已不存在，但研究人員能夠完整展開倖存物件的事實，證明了這項技術的可行性。
#12
Not only does it validate the methodology, but it also opens the door to deciphering other carbonised scrolls in the collection.
這不僅證實了該方法的有效性，還為解密該收藏中其他碳化的卷軸敞開了大門。
#13
The findings are set to be formally announced at a conference in Naples and constitute the latest milestone from the Vesuvius Challenge.
研究結果預計將在那不勒斯的一場會議上正式公布，並構成了維蘇威挑戰賽的最新里程碑。
#14
Launched in 2023 as a global competition, the initiative has galvanised researchers worldwide to harness machine learning in recovering texts from these seemingly irretrievable artefacts.
這項倡議於 2023 年作為一項全球競賽啟動（即維蘇威挑戰賽），已激勵了全球的研究人員利用機器學習技術，從這些看似無法挽回的文物中復原文本。
#15
Should the technique prove equally effective on additional scrolls, scholars could gain unprecedented access to lost works of ancient philosophy and literature.
倘若這項技術在其他卷軸上證明同樣有效，學者們將有望獲得前所未有的機會，得以一窺失傳的古代哲學與文學作品。