I've been really waiting for news like this for some time now. It's really difficult to read these scrolls because they're rolled up and they got charred like that. The words are impossible to read without damaging the scroll. That is the old news now. Apparently, they'd managed to read them! So far, nothing major has been found in the two libraries from Pompeii and Herculaneum, but we'll see. Maybe they surprise us.
Anyway, here's the Guardian article where I'd read this: http://www.theguardian.com/science/...t-scrolls-eruption-vesuvius-x-ray-herculaneum
It's really interesting how x-rays techniques can be used to read the scrolls without opening them. I'd watched a documentary last summer and that was still risky then. No idea what changed. I'm very excited about the news, though! I wonder what kinds of texts we'll get to read... maybe some lost works? Sapfo? Or Varro? Only time will tell.
Anyway, here's the Guardian article where I'd read this: http://www.theguardian.com/science/...t-scrolls-eruption-vesuvius-x-ray-herculaneum
It's really interesting how x-rays techniques can be used to read the scrolls without opening them. I'd watched a documentary last summer and that was still risky then. No idea what changed. I'm very excited about the news, though! I wonder what kinds of texts we'll get to read... maybe some lost works? Sapfo? Or Varro? Only time will tell.