{
  "abstract": "We report the successful fabrication of a laboratory-made carbonized papyrus scroll and the virtual unrolling and reading of its custom leaded ink text, using X-ray tomography. We believe this is the first confirmed proof of concept to show that the presence of lead in Herculaneum scrolls would greatly increase the probability for successful reading. This synthetic model enables systematic variation of ink formulations, including leaded inks, to generate ground-truth datasets for the development and validation of text-detection algorithms intended for use on the Herculaneum scrolls. By altering the ink composition from pure carbon to an ink enriched with lead, an X-ray contrasting agent, our team can provide datasets which can be used to test algorithmic performance. Inks containing only carbon present a more challenging detection scenario, serving as a baseline for recovery efforts. The lab-made scroll was constructed from modern Egyptian papyrus and ink incorporating a soluble lead salt, then carbonized and imaged using a laboratory-grade X-ray tomography system. The scroll was virtually unrolled using custom-developed software. Additionally, we found that a handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) device could detect lead in the ink post-carbonization. This suggests that XRF may be a practical screening method for identifying ancient scrolls likely to contain lead-based ink and therefore have a higher probability of being successfully read.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "UC Berkeley Affiliate, Berkeley, California, United States of America",
    "National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, United States of America",
    "Department of Greek and Latin, University College London, Researcher in Papyrology, London, United Kingdom",
    "UC Berkeley, College of Chemistry, Microanalytical Facility, Berkeley, California, United States of America",
    "STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK Research and Innovation, Harwell Oxford, England"
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 6,
  "authors": [
    {
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        0
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      "name": "Douglas Seiler"
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      "name": "Jacob Michael LaManna"
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      "name": "Michael McOsker"
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        3
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      "name": "David Kreimer"
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    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Michael Cyrus Daugherty"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jens Dopke"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/85dswgfaqbefz.bib",
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  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0353485",
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  "id": "85dswgfaqbefz",
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    "1932-6203"
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  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
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      "1204|Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis"
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      "/Research and analysis methods/Imaging techniques/Diagnostic radiology/Bone imaging/X-ray radiography"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Imaging techniques/Diagnostic radiology/Tomography"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Imaging techniques/Diagnostic radiology/X-ray radiography"
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      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Simulation and modeling/Algorithms/Machine learning algorithms"
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  "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0353485&type=printable",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-16",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/85dswgfaqbefz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:49Z",
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "plos:diagnostic radiology",
      "subfield": "imaging"
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  "title": "A model carbonized papyrus scroll opens a novel path to identifying readable scrolls of the Herculaneum Library",
  "title_text": "A model carbonized papyrus scroll opens a novel path to identifying readable scrolls of the Herculaneum Library",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:49Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/85dswgfaqbefz",
  "venue": "PLOS One",
  "versions": []
}