Beyond the breakthrough: How Brent Seales is pushing the boundaries of discovery through new heritage science lab

The video above (produced by UK Research Communications) features a conversation with Brent Seales about the excitement and breakthroughs of the Vesuvius Challenge, his work at the University of Kentucky and the innovative potential of EduceLab.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 3, 2024) — Its influence is inescapable.

Technology has reached nearly every corner of the globe — transforming the way we live, work and connect. But as technological advances continue to reshape society, the real challenge isn’t simply “keeping up.”

It’s about daring to ask, “What comes next?”

From artificial intelligence (AI)-driven breakthroughs to the search for sustainable solutions, the future seems both imminent and more elusive than ever.

So, what’s next?

That’s exactly what the innovators, visionaries and disruptors — like Brent Seales — are setting out to discover.

Cracking the ancient code: AI unlocks secrets of Herculaneum scrolls

Last fall, a monumental breakthrough in the world of heritage science and modern technology made headlines around the globe.

On Oct. 12, 2023, a New York Times article read, “Scrolls That Survived Vesuvius Divulge Their First Word.”

National Geographic posted, “AI Just Deciphered Part of the Herculaneum Scrolls.”

And Time magazine wrote a detailed piece on the “AI Powered Race to Decode Ancient Roman Scrolls.”

For the first time in 2,000 years, the Herculaneum scrolls — long considered the most iconic and inaccessible of the world’s vast collection of damaged manuscripts — became readable.

Seales, a computer science professor in the Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky and visionary leader in the project, was at the center of the Vesuvius Challenge.

“When we revealed the first few letters from the ancient Herculaneum scrolls, the momentum just exploded,” he said. “And it was thrilling to be at the center of it — watching the world engage with ancient history.”

For two-decades leading up to this moment, Seales took on the “impossible.”

What followed was a long, and often arduous, journey to create an AI program that could read the Herculaneum scrolls without ever physically opening them. 

Fast forward to March of 2023, when Seales — along with Silicon Valley investors Nat Friedman (creator and sponsor), Daniel Gross (sponsor) and JP Posma (project lead) — began leading a global competition to read the charred scrolls after he demonstrated an AI program can successfully extract letters and symbols from X-ray images of the unrolled papyri.

As part of the Vesuvius Challenge, Seales’ team released its software and thousands of 3D X-ray images of two rolled-up scrolls and three papyrus fragments.

The two unopened scrolls, belonging to the Institut de France in Paris, are among hundreds unearthed in the 1750s when excavations at the buried villa revealed an extravagant library of Epicurean philosophical text. They are believed to have belonged to a Roman statesman — possibly Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, the father-in-law of Julius Caesar.

Even after being in the ground for 1,700 years, the carbonized papyri did not decay. Rather, they were entombed in the solid volcanic flow of mud, dirt, water and gasses, then desiccated by the heat, carbonized and preserved.

The hope was that $1 million in prizes would encourage global researchers and scholars to build upon the AI technology and accelerate the decoding.

“What the challenge allowed us to do was to enlist thousands of competitors to work on a problem that would normally have about five people working on it,” Seales explained. “The competitive science aspect of this project is just fascinating.”

Seales never doubted the Vesuvius Challenge would do just as it had intended.

However, even as the team expected the surge of success, witnessing it in action was profoundly emotional.

“It felt like the first drop of a rollercoaster,” he recalled. “You know it’s coming, but once you’re in it, the excitement is overwhelming.”

The global nature of the challenge captivated more than just the papyrology community. Through the Vesuvius Challenge, the intricate process of studying ancient texts — traditionally done behind closed doors — was on full display.

“We opened that door to the world. It was the first time in 2,000 years that anyone had looked inside these ancient scrolls, and everyone got to share in that discovery in real time,” Seales said. “It was an incredible, collaborative moment — no longer confined to academic papers but something that unfolded right before our eyes.”

Six months into the competition, contestants virtually unwrapped many layers of papyrus from within by building upon Seales’ software.

Together, the team presented the discovery, announcing an entire word has been read from part of the still-closed Herculaneum scrolls, during a livestream event on UK’s campus.

The Greek characters, πορφύραc, revealed as meaning “purple dye” or “clothes of purple,” are among the multiple characters and lines of text that have been extracted by Vesuvius Challenge contestants.

“We also acknowledge the many years of work that it has taken and the technological advances that have been applied to the problem of reading this material,” Seales said in a previous announcement. “With humility, we acknowledge the non-linear — and often unpredictable — outcomes of research, which is rarely expected, and not ever guaranteed, to lead directly to success.”

All winning submissions have been made open source, so future contestants can use the body of work as a starting point.

Seales believes reading the entire collection of Herculaneum scrolls is not only possible but will be the largest discovery from the ancient world to date. In the meantime, his relentless pursuit of unlocking the past through innovative technology continues to drive new research and discoveries in heritage science.

UK’s EduceLab: Bridging past, future through next-generation heritage science

Did you know, heritage science is all around us and has deep roots in the Commonwealth?

It’s the signature on a bourbon barrel — it's the ancient footprints in Mammoth Cave. Kentucky’s story begins in prehistoric times, when mammoths roamed the Ohio River Valley at Big Bone Lick.

Now, thanks to a $14 million infrastructure grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, UK is poised to tell that story in new, groundbreaking ways through the lens of heritage science.

Seales has gathered a team of experts from the Pigman College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences to create EduceLab — UK’s vision for next-generation heritage science.

“The word Educe means ‘to bring out from data’ or ‘to develop something that is latent but not on its own explicit.’ That’s what we’ve been doing with our virtual unwrapping work. And that context has created an opportunity to expand the very focused question of, ‘Can we read what’s inside a scroll?’ to a broader question of, ‘What heritage science questions can we answer right here in Kentucky?’ Seales explained. “My goal was to rally some of the best researchers here around that theme and build a world-class laboratory that allows us to pose and then answer some of those questions.”

Their research will combine engineering, the humanities and the sciences to enhance the understanding of our past, inform the present and guide our future.

“Our newly renovated space means that students can now participate in real-time, hands-on research. We’ve made it possible for them to witness — and take part in — studies on paintings, artifacts and other heritage objects right here on campus,” Seales said. “Whether it’s a sample from a museum or an analysis of pigments from a historical painting, students will see how these things work. I’m incredibly excited about the opportunities this creates.”

EduceLab (located on Export Street in Lexington, next to the main campus) functions as a user facility for the heritage community. With cutting-edge equipment in artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced data science, the lab will position UK as a leader in the emerging field.

“From non-invasive data collection to AI-powered analysis, we’re opening new doors into the past,” Seales explained. “We can uncover layers of history without ever damaging the objects we study, and we’re connecting to the global community of heritage science in a big way.”

EduceLab has four parts: BENCH, FLEX,  MOBILE and CYBER

BENCH

Modern technology is key to understanding how relics of our past were made. BENCH will work to acquire the instruments needed to conduct leading-edge materials science, which will help establish a comprehensive workflow.

FLEX

In 2016, Seales’ team developed the Volume Cartographer, a revolutionary computer program for locating and mapping 2D surfaces within a 3D object. The software pipeline is used with micro-CT to generate extremely high-resolution images — enabling the ability to read a document without ever needing to physically open it. The charred scroll from En Gedi was the first complete text to be revealed using the software.

While the first-of-its-kind software has profoundly impacted history and literature, not all damaged artifacts are created equal.

Seales and his team have often found it difficult to use equipment that is poorly suited for the odd shapes and sizes — so they decided to build their own.

“With the FLEX cluster, we will have a prototype environment where we can envision, build and test custom instrument configurations built around the heritage object under study,” Seales said. “That is truly a novel approach not seen anywhere else at the mid-scale level.”

MOBILE & CYBER

It’s one thing to bring an object into the lab. It’s another to go to the object in the field. By setting up in the parking lot of a museum or by collecting data at an archeological site, the MOBILE team will take EduceLab on the road. Additionally, the MOBILE team will use external displays for community involvement.

CYBER will be tasked with generating and sharing the data. CYBER will be critical when helping to further drive technological advancements.

The Promise Moving Forward

Daring to ask “what's next” is the driving force behind innovation and progress. It pushes the boundaries of what we believe is possible — opening new doors to discovery.

So, what’s next?

Seales envisions even greater advancements for EduceLab in the coming decade.

“There’s no reason we can’t expand into areas like forensic archaeology, genetic sequencing, and carbon dating — fields that could greatly benefit from our tools and insights.”

His goal is to ensure a sustainable future for EduceLab.

The Kentucky-based lab stands at the forefront of heritage science — poised to uncover even more secrets from the past.

“We’re in a time now where our cultural heritage is the key to understanding our past,” Seales said. “Focusing on heritage science can be key to unlocking, in a positive way, how that heritage can help us understand each other, collaborate and shape our future. We plan to keep showing the world what can be done — right here at UK.”

More information about EduceLab can also be found online.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award No. 2131940. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.