Editor Hana Conte - 7
Swords of Bar Kokhba Revolt
2nd VP Daniel Kim (Sycamore)
In A.D.132, Jewish leader Simon bar Kokhba led a large-scale revolt against the Roman empire. This event, which many had thought to be forgotten, actually came up in a recent discovery. On September 6th, 2023, while trying to photograph a stalactite with an ink inscription in ancient Hebrew in a cave near the Dead Sea, archaeologists discovered four swords, which had wooden hilts and were 60-65 centimeters long. Later, they discovered that these swords were Roman swords that dated back to the Bar Kokhba Revolt. What’s fascinating is that the swords were in excellent condition. This, however, is not surprising as the dry climate in the Judean desert is perfect for the preservation of artifacts. Each sword tells a story and researchers hypothesize that Jewish soldiers seized the swords and, while fleeing, hid them in a cave. Currently, researchers are aiming to try to find out who owned the swords, and where, when and by whom they were manufactured. Through this, many people hope to learn more about the revolt and shed light on the last moments of the war.
(Photo from the Economic Times)
The Quest to Read the Hurculaneum Papyri
North Gubernator Carter Riordan (St. Edwards)
The Herculaneum Papyri were found in 1750, buried in the city of Herculaneum. They had been underground since Vesuvius had erupted and buried them nearly 1,700 years ago. After being excavated, many attempts were made to try and read these papyri. One method that was tried was slicing open the papyri and disassembling them layer by layer. Unfortunately, this also destroyed many of them. Another method was to use a specially constructed device that would unroll the papyri millimeter by millimeter. This, consequently, caused the text to fade the moment it was exposed to air. Other techniques used harsh chemicals and only had partial success.
That brings us to today. Recently, archeologists and scientists have turned to methods beyond unrolling the scrolls directly. This allows the researchers to read the text without the risk of destroying these historical artifacts. X-rays have helped read some scrolls that were written with lead-containing ink. However many of the scrolls were written with purely carbon-based ink, which blends in with the carbonized papyrus that the scrolls themselves are made from. Infrared scans helped somewhat, but most of these scrolls remain unreadable. That’s where Artificial Intelligence comes into the picture. Researchers believe that machine learning software can use data obtained from Infrared scans to learn how to detect writing in X-ray images that humans can’t see. If they manage to get this to work it would be groundbreaking for the fields of computer science, classics, and archeology. A $700,000 prize is currently being offered to the research team that achieves this first, with many smaller prizes along the way. If the researchers succeed, this writing that’s been hidden for almost 2,000 years will finally be able to be read.