Tag Archives: buried

Roman scrolls buried under volcanic ash finally deciphered in 2000

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Pherc.172 scroll revealed by X-ray imaging

Vesuvius Challenge

Ancient Roman scrolls were read for the first time since they were burned by a volcanic eruption on Mount Vesuvius two thousand years ago, thanks to artificial intelligence and powerful X-ray facilities.

The Papyrus scroll is one of the 1800s rescued from a single room in the ornate villas of the Roman town of Herculaneum in the 1750s, and is now the Italian town of El Corano. They were all carbonated by the heat of the volcanic debris that buried them.

Initially, locals unconsciously burned the scroll as fire, but were preserved when it was discovered to contain text. About 200 were then painstakingly opened and read by laborious mechanical devices. Based on the clock, you will get scrolls in millimeters slowly engraved.

Three of these scrolls were kept at the Bodrian Library at Oxford University, and was talented in 1804 by the future King George IV. At the time, the Wales Rince exchanged kangaroo troops for the Napurites of Ferdinand IV in exchange for scrolls. (The King of Naples had built an elaborate garden and animal collection for his lover.)

One of these three scrolls known as PEREC.172 has been imaged and analyzed using machine learning algorithms. Scanned with a diamond light source in Oxfordshire, there is a very powerful X-ray device known as the Synchrotron, and the resulting data is now available. Vesuvius Challenge – Competition with the $700,000 Grand Prize for interpreting text from scrolls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5xmdspramo

This method says it is much better than trying to mechanically open the scroll, Peter TossCurator of the Bodrian Library. “The only problem, or risk, is that imaging is so special that it can't be done here. That means the scroll has to leave the facility, and we're very nervous about it. I did,” he says.

Researchers have so far revealed several columns of approximately 26 lines of text in each column. Scholars now want to read the entire scroll, but we can already see the ancient Greek word Διατροπή, meaning “aversion.” Toth suspects it somehow relates to a philosopher EpiclassAs many other scrolls found on the same site have.

Felk. The 172 was the only one of the three scrolls from the Bodleian Library that seemed stable enough to move, only in a specially 3D printed case within another padded box. “The hope is that technology can improve dramatically. [in the future] Items don't have to travel anywhere, but technology can come to us,” says Toth.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Iron Age people may have buried their beloved pets, such as dogs and horses along with them

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Remains of dog and baby girl buried in Seminario Vescoville near Verona, Italy

Laffranchi et al. (CC-BY 4.0)

Late Iron Age people in northern Italy were sometimes buried with dogs and horses. Probably because they loved dogs and horses.

Archaeologists often suspect that the ancient worldwide custom of placing animals in human graves is associated with higher socio-economic status, beliefs about the afterlife, or certain family traditions. I was there. However, after thorough investigation, researchers say they are now beginning to suspect that such “community burials” may have simply been expressions of love for devoted non-human family members. Marco Mirella At the University of Bern, Switzerland.

He and his colleagues reexamined bones excavated from the 2,200-year-old Seminario Vescoville cemetery just east of Verona, Italy. There, the Cenomani lived in metal-making communities before and during the Roman conquest.

Most of the 161 graves discovered at the site contained only human remains, but 16 graves also contained whole or partial animal remains. Twelve of the items were pork or beef products, apparently food offerings to the deceased. Zita Laffranchialso at the University of Bern.

However, the remaining four were buried with dogs and/or horses, which were not used for food by the group. Among them were a middle-aged man with a small dog, a young man with part of a horse, a 9-month-old baby girl alongside the dog, and, most unexpectedly, a pony. She was a middle-aged woman. She had a dog’s head placed above her and a dog’s head placed above her head.

“At first, the excavators were surprised to find human legs under the horses, and their first idea was that there were horsemen here, there were warriors.” LaFranch says. However, the woman was buried unarmed, suggesting that her association with the 1.3 meter tall pony had nothing to do with the war.

The researchers found no particular trends in the age of the people buried with the animals, and DNA analysis suggested they were not genetically related to each other. Chemical analysis of these corpses Dietary differences related to socio-economic status were also not revealed compared to human-only graves.

The findings suggest that ancient people may have felt a strong connection to their animals and therefore chose to bury their loved ones with them, the researchers said. “And why not?” says Mirella. “You can never rule that out.”

Another explanation, the researchers added, is that the animals may have had symbolic meaning for the afterlife. For example, in Gallo-Roman religion, The Celtic horse goddess Epona was believed to protect individuals after death..And what about Gallo Romance? Sometimes dogs are associated with the afterlife.. In fact, burying dogs with infants may even have had a purpose: Protecting parents from future baby loss.

Still, the animals in the graves appear to have benefited from careful human care, rather than as disposable livestock. The dog in particular appears to have been fed human food and is showing signs of wound treatment and healing.

So it’s also possible that people were buried with animals for both symbolic and affectionate reasons, Mirella said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com