Gone? Never Forgotten

Today, the BBC is reporting on an advance in technology that will allow us to read ancient scrolls that were long believed too damaged to be usable.  Several years ago, hundreds of scrolls were found in the charred remains of the Roman town of Herculaneum.  The entire area was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79AD.  Similar to Pompeii, it was buried beneath layers of volcanic ash.  Archaeologists were unable to unwrap the unearthed library discovered there because the scrolls were too badly burnt.  Up until this point, what looks like lumps of coal, lay undisturbed until technology caught up.  The University of Oxford's Bodleian Library held several of these scrolls. Now scientists are using a combination of X-ray imaging and artificial intelligence to virtually unwrap what hasn’t been seen for 2000 years.
 
Recently, one of the scrolls was placed in a specially made case and taken to Diamond Light Source in Oxfordshire and placed inside a new X-ray type machine.  Inside this huge machine, which is called a synchrotron, electrons are accelerated to almost the speed of light to produce a powerful beam that can probe the scroll without damaging it."It can see things on the scale of a few thousandths of a millimeter," explained Adrian Mancuso, director of physical sciences at Diamond.  The scan is used to create a 3D reconstruction, then the layers inside the scroll have to be identified. "We have to work out which layer is different from the next layer so we can unroll that digitally," said Dr Mancuso."We're confident we will be able to read pretty much the whole scroll in its entirety, and it's the first time we've really been able to say that with high confidence," said Stephen Parsons, project lead for the Vesuvius Challenge, an international competition attempting to unlock the Herculaneum scrolls.

More work is needed to make the scroll fully legible to decipher its contents, but the team behind the project say the results are very promising.  Some letters are already clearly visible in the ancient text and the team believes it's a work of philosophy.  Last year, a Vesuvius Challenge team managed to read about 5% of another Herculaneum scroll. Its subject was Greek Epicurean philosophy, which teaches that fulfillment can be found through the pleasure of everyday things. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yvrq7dyg6o

Amazing what Artificial Intelligence is able to do now! I can’t help but think about what the Bible says about nothing can be hidden.  In Mark 4, Jesus challenges us to consider the light that a lamp produces.  Once it is lit, it cannot be hidden.  Truth is like that.  No matter how hard someone tries to hide it, eventually, it will come out. Jesus also said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp to put it under a basket or under a bed? Doesn’t he set it on a stand? For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light. Mark 4:21-22

Take heart and pay special attention to what our Lord has to say.  Stay on the straight and narrow and know in the end, God takes care of everything.  

"However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”  Luke 10:20

Serving the Savior,  
Bro. Jonathan