If you’re good with a 2,000-year-old language, you could score an easy quarter of a million dollars. Scientists are looking for anyone that can help them decipher a series of manuscripts that were charred during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD. While they’re too fragile to unroll, an AI could use high-resolution X-rays of the scrolls to show the writing on them.
The research team is releasing the AI software and thousands of 3D X-ray images of the scrolls as part of a contest with the prize money to be split between various winners. Most of the scrolls analyzed so far were written in ancient Greek, but they believe some could be written in Latin.
Source: Daily Mail