For centuries scholars have hunted for the lost literature of ancient Greece and Rome, missing works of Plato or Cicero. In Herculaneum in southern Italy, destroyed by a volcano in 79 AD, archaeologists have discovered an entire library of papyrus scrolls turned into solid lumps by high temperatures. More than 400 burnt charcoal looking scrolls have largely defied efforts to be opened or read. Some have been lost in the effort. Science has developed some promising techniques currently being experimented with in hopes of recovering some data.
as a footnote, Herculaneum was not only closer than Pompeii was to Vesuvius, but was also on the other side, which was the direction of the blast. Folks in herculaneum , at least many, likely exploded as their innards were superheated. kind of gruesome to think about though I think "Zombies from Herculaneum" would be a smash hit.
ReplyDeleteWord is that one scroll was read - it was actually a sign - Warning - Watch for Erupting Volcanoes, and exploding Pedestrians..
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