March 20, 2001--

BYU researchers have made what scholars are calling an "astonishing" breakthrough, which could significantly increase our understanding of the ancient world.

They've developed a technique that allows thousands of scrolls to be read, even though they were burned to a crisp in history's most famous volcanic eruption.

News Specialist John Hollenhorst has the exclusive story.

When Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, it buried the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum under boiling hot ash and mud.

250 years ago, excavators in Herculaneum unearthed this villa owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law.

STEVEN BOORAS/B.Y.U.: "THE VILLA WAS COMPLETELY ENGULFED WITH A LAYER OF MUD AND ASH AND LAVA, PROBABLY OVER 100 FEET."

Inside excavators found a treasurehouse of ancient papyrus scrolls, burned nearly beyond recognition.

STEVEN BOORAS/B.Y.U.: "TO THE POINT THEY LOOKED LIKE CHARCOAL, AND VERY FRAGILE."

For more than 200 years, scholars have been trying to unroll and read the scrolls, with limited success.

STEVEN BOORAS/B.Y.U.: "EVEN TO THIS DAY, MANY ARE STILL UNIDENTIFIED, NOT BEING ABLE TO READ THE TEXT."

Many fragments look essentially like flakes of ash, scorched totally black.

DOUG CHABRIES/B.Y.U. DEAN OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY: "AND SO YOU HAVE BLACK INK ON BLACK PAPYRUS. YOU'RE REALLY NOT ABLE TO READ THAT UNLESS WE HAVE SOME FORTUITOUS CIRCUMSTANCE."

But look what happens with BYU's new imaging technique.

Astoundingly, ancient Greek and Roman writing is as readable to scholars as a daily newspaper.

STEVEN BOORAS/B.Y.U.: "WE WERE AMAZED AT HOW, THE RESPONSE WE GOT..."

It's done with digital imaging technology developed by NASA to study planets.

BYU researchers took it to Italy and photographed scroll fragments in varying wavelengths of light. They found they could create a contrast between the ink and the papyrus because each reflects light differently, especially at infrared frequencies.

DOUG CHABRIES/B.Y.U. DEAN OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY: "THE BEST FREQUENCY CHANGED FROM SCROLL TO SCROLL."

They've now imaged 3,000 scrolls, with thousands more to be done. Translation is just getting started.

ROGER MACFARLANE/B.Y.U. HUMANITIES CHAIRMAN: "I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THIS IS GOING TO REVEAL NEW AND INTERESTING STUFF."

Some say it's likely the translations will reveal unknown works of philosophers who have been famous for more than two millennia.

ROGER MACFARLANE/B.Y.U. HUMANITIES CHAIRMAN: "TEXTS OF ARISTOTLE WHICH THE WEST HAS BEEN EAGER TO FIND SINCE THE MIDDLE AGES."

JOHN HOLLENHORST, REPORTING: "THE BREAKTHROUGH IS CREATING EXCITEMENT AMONG CLASSICS SCHOLARS. BYU IS PUTTING THE IMAGES ON CD-ROM'S SO EXPERTS AROUND THE WORLD CAN HELP WITH THE TRANSLATION."

Many of the world's Greek and Roman scholars will be at BYU next month where they'll see a presentation on the new images.