(CNN) - Scientists from the University of Kentucky say they're working to perfect a technique to digitally unravel fragile ancient texts that haven't been read in nearly 2,000 years.
They hope to read scrolls buried by VesuviusThat technology is necessary to help do the immensely detailed work of trying to read scrolls preserved when Mount Vesuvius rained fire and ash on the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in AD 79.
The scrolls remained buried in a villa in Herculaneum, believed to be associated with Julius Caesar's family, until they were re-discovered in 1752.
Machine learning can help trace the inkWhile in England using the Diamond Light Source, Seales' team scanned four single-page fragments as well as closed-up scrolls.
That's a process Seales and his team described in a May paper published in Plos One, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal.