X-ray scans and artificial intelligence could soon read more fragile Herculaneum scrolls without unrolling them, following a breakthrough study published on September 16, 2026, in the journal PLOS ONE. According to researchers led by Douglas Seiler, tiny amounts of lead in ancient ink create a strong X-ray signal that allows hidden letters to stand out against carbonized papyrus.
The Challenge of Reading Vesuvius Scrolls
The Herculaneum papyri were buried when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE. Ash and rock covered the town near modern Naples, Italy, along with an extensive library of papyrus scrolls. Extreme heat carbonized the scrolls, leaving fragile blackened objects. More than 1,800 scrolls and fragments still exist, according to study data, with some containing works by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus. However, researchers have struggled to read many of these texts because both their ink and papyrus contain carbon. X-ray tomography maps inner layers, but carbon-based ink often produces too little contrast against charred papyrus.
Testing Leaded Ink on Model Scrolls
To overcome this contrast barrier, a team tested a different approach focusing on lead, which absorbs X-rays far more strongly than charred papyrus. Douglas Seiler sourced papyrus and reed pens from Egypt and traditional lampblack ink from Japan, and paid high school students to inscribe passages on new papyrus, according to reports from chemistry.berkeley.edu. The team rolled up the model scrolls and heated them in a low-oxygen furnace to replicate the volcanic carbonization. According to the study, X-ray fluorescence and X-ray CT detected lead at every tested concentration down to 25 micrograms per square centimeter. The leaded letters appeared much brighter than the surrounding papyrus. “With lead in the ink, you would get a huge friggin’ signature, so you really need to be looking for scrolls with lead in them,” Seiler said, as reported by vcresearch.berkeley.edu.
Virtual Unrolling and AI Integration
Researchers also tested software for virtually unrolling burned scrolls. Michael Cyrus Daugherty adapted code originally made for mapping inner layers of lithium-ion batteries. The program successfully followed uneven scroll thickness to produce an unrolled view. Artificial intelligence has already advanced these efforts; in 2024, AI helped researchers recover 15 columns from one scroll, revealing an Epicurean work about perception and pleasure. In 2026, another team used AI to read part of a damaged scroll designated PHerc. 1667, which discusses Stoic philosophy. While those successes relied on faint differences within scanned papyrus, leaded ink absorbs up to 25 times more X-rays than charred papyrus, providing a much stronger signal.
Screening Surviving Scrolls for Lead
An inexpensive handheld X-ray fluorescence scanner offers a practical first step for researchers. According to the study, scientists could screen surviving Herculaneum scrolls for lead before sending selected pieces for high-resolution CT imaging. Currently, only a few charred scrolls from the Villa of the Papyri have been virtually unrolled and read, and none were systematically tested for leaded ink prior to this work. Surviving scrolls are housed in Italy, France, and England. “Almost everything from antiquity has been destroyed,” Seiler said, as noted by chemistry.berkeley.edu. “There’s very little left except papyrus that was in a dry climate or some works that were copied by scribes and transferred down. But some of the Herculaneum scrolls aren’t copies. These are books directly from the ancient world frozen in time.”
Did you know? The library at Herculaneum is the only known intact library surviving from classical antiquity, preserved directly within Roman intellectual circles by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do researchers read closed Herculaneum scrolls?
Researchers use X-ray tomography (X-ray CT) to map the internal layers of closed scrolls without opening them physically, relying on differences in X-ray absorption between the ink and the charred papyrus.
Why does leaded ink help X-ray scans?
Lead absorbs X-rays up to 25 times more strongly than charred papyrus. According to the study published in PLOS ONE, even minuscule amounts of lead in the ink make the written letters stand out clearly in CT scans.
How many Herculaneum scrolls still exist?
More than 1,800 scrolls and fragments remain from the ancient library, currently housed across institutions in Italy, France, and England.
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