How to unroll a 2000 year-old scroll

[Astronuc]

A slight gust of wind, a particularly humid day, or even a simple exhalation could cause the scroll to crack or crumble into pieces. To unroll a scroll this old is almost unthinkable—but recently, conservators at the Library of Congress found themselves with no other option. They wanted to read the words scrawled inside the Gandhara scroll.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gandhara-scroll-library-of-congress

A remarkable find and a remarkable accomplishment to unroll it in order to read it.

The ancient region of Gandhara is now the Peshawar Valley in northern Afghanistan and Pakistan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhara

 

[Klystron]

Two thousand years ago places us well within the Roman period where inks with iron compounds were often used to inscribe finished scrolls. While too long ago to remember sources, I recollect university projects that attempted to read ancient scrolls as found.

1. Scan unrolled scrolls in layers using electromagnetic radiation.
2. Decipher letters and text from the images.
3. Assign weights and probabilities to the constituents of the deciphered texts.
4. Hand off the results from (1) physics, (2) information science, (3) mathematics to linguists to interpret the contents.

Similar techniques apply to 'reading' printed and handwritten flat pages such as books and folios where the pages have stuck together due to age, moisture and mishandling. The results from unrolled scrolls and fused flat pages can be compared to similar articles that were unrolled or unstuck to improve the transcriptions.

Fascinating to think of future humans preserving and reading our digital media; the difficulties inherent in transcribing the various sources as well as understanding social context such as cultural references.

 

[AlexTheParticle]

The scroll is believed to be from the first century AD and is written in the Gandhari language, which was used in the region during that time period. It contains Buddhist sutras, or teachings, and is one of the oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts in the world.The process of unrolling the scroll was delicate and required the expertise of conservators and scientists. The scroll was first placed in a humidity chamber to help soften the layers of dirt and sediment that had accumulated on the surface. Then, using a combination of gentle pressure and small brushes, the conservators were able to slowly unroll the scroll, inch by inch.As they unrolled the scroll, they discovered that it was made up of 80 individual sheets of birch bark, each measuring about 10 inches by 2 inches. The sheets were then carefully cleaned and flattened, revealing the ancient writing on them.The writing on the scroll is in the Kharosthi script, which was used in ancient Gandhara. It is a form of Brahmi script and was used to write various languages in the region, including Gandhari.The text on the scroll is a collection of Buddhist sutras from the Dharmapada, a collection of sayings attributed to the Buddha. The sutras contain teachings on morality, meditation, and wisdom, and are considered to be some of the most important texts in Buddhism.The discovery and unrolling of the Gandhara scroll has provided valuable insight into the early development of Buddhism in the region. It is also a testament to the skill and dedication of the conservators at the Library of Congress, who were able to successfully reveal and preserve this ancient text for future generations to study and appreciate.