ERC Funds ‘UnLost’: Vincent Christlein Among Synergy Grant Winners

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Dr.-Ing. Vincent Christlein (Photo: FAU/Boris Mijat)FAU/Boris Mijat
July 28, 2025
To this day, the carbonized and stuck-together papyrus scrolls from ancient Herculaneum are mostly unreadable. Photo by S. Bailey, EduceLab/The University of Kentucky

The eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD also destroyed a unique collection of papyrus scrolls. They were rediscovered in the 18th century, but the carbonized and stuck-together writings remain largely illegible to this day. An international project involving the Pattern Recognition Lab (Vincent Christlein) now aims to change that: by combining and further developing state-of-the-art techniques, the researchers hope to reconstruct the records. The European Research Council (ERC) is funding the project with more than €11 million over the next six years.

The international research team working on the UnLost project includes Italian papyrus researcher Dr. Federica Nicolardi, US expert in the digital restoration of ancient manuscripts Prof. Dr. W. Brent Seales (left), and FAU computer scientist Dr.-Ing. Vincent Christlein. Photo: Brent Seales

For more information, please s. (DE)
https://www.fau.de/2025/07/news/wissenschaft/ki-projekt-soll-verkohlte-papyrus-rollen-lesbar-machen

and (EN)

https://uknow.uky.edu/research/uk-s-brent-seales-global-team-secures-europe-s-top-research-grant-digitally-decode

and (EN/IT)

https://www.unina.it/en/w/la-federiciana-federica-nicolardi-tra-i-vincitori-erc-synergy-grant

Contact: Vincent Christlein

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