Revealing letters in rolled Herculaneum papyri by X-ray phase-contrast imaging

X-ray phase-contrast tomography has successfully revealed letters within the rolled Herculaneum papyri, preserving their fragile structure. This breakthrough addresses a longstanding challenge: the carbonized papyri, buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, were previously impossible to read without unrolling and damaging them. The technique penetrates the spiral layers of the papyrus, detecting carbon-based ink for the first time. By enabling non-invasive text recovery, this method unlocks new insights into ancient Greek literature and philosophy, offering a solution to conserve and study one of Antiquity's few surviving libraries.

Mocella, V., Brun, E., Ferrero, C., & Delattre, D. (2015). Revealing letters in rolled Herculaneum papyri by X-ray phase-contrast imaging. Nature Communications, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms6895