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Clown Cast · August 30 · 20 min

Reading the Unreadable: How AI Cracks Ancient Codes

For centuries, undeciphered writing systems—Linear A, the Indus Valley script, Rongorongo—have been locked vaults of human history. But AI isn't just predicting the future; it's decoding the past. From volcanic libraries to museum tablets, we explore how machine learning is solving ancient mysteries that humanity couldn't crack alone, and what it means when machines can finally hear voices from the dead. 00:00 - What does 4,000-year-old silence sound like? 02:45 - The graveyard of undeciphered languages 05:30 - Why the Rosetta Stone was humanity's cheat code 08:15 - Enter the AI time machine 11:00 - Inside Mount Vesuvius's frozen library 14:20 - The algorithms that read the dead 17:45 - What comes next when nothing is undecipherable --- Sources & further reading: • Brent Seales / Vesuvius Challenge — [Vesuvius Challenge: Reading the Herculaneum Scrolls](: https://scrollprize.org/ • Yannis Assael, Thea Sommerschield, Jonathan Prag et al. — [Restoring and attributing ancient texts using deep neural networks]( (Nature, 2022): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04448-z • CNN — [Papyrus scroll burnt to a crisp during Vesuvius eruption deciphered with help of AI](: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/26/science/papyrus-scroll-vesuvius-ai-scli-intl • Jiaming Luo, Yuan Cao, Regina Barzilay — [Deciphering lost languages using machine learning]( (MIT Technology Review, 2019): https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/07/01/65601/machine-learning-has-been-used-to-automatically-translate-long-lost-languages/ • Nature — [How AI is unlocking ancient texts — and could rewrite history](: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04161-z • The Conversation — [Cracking the code: can AI help us decipher ancient languages?]( (July 2026): https://theconversation.com/cracking-the-code-can-ai-help-us-decipher-ancient-languages-288238 • Science / AAAS — [Some Dead Sea Scrolls are older than researchers thought, AI analysis suggests](: https://www.science.org/content/article/some-dead-sea-scrolls-are-older-researchers-thought-ai-analysis-suggests • Mladen Popović et al. / University of Groningen — Dead Sea Scrolls AI dating research • Scientific Data (Nature) — [An open dataset for oracle bone character recognition and decipherment]( (2024): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-024-03807-x • npj Heritage Science — [OracleNet: enhancing Oracle Bone Script recognition]( (2025): https://www.nature.com/articles/s40494-025-01839-z • Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence — [On automatic decipherment of lost ancient scripts relying on combinatorial optimisation]( (2025): https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence/articles/10.3389/frai.2025.1581129/full • Shih et al. — [Reasoning Over the Glyphs: Evaluation of LLM's Decipherment of Rare Scripts]( (arXiv, 2025): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.17785 • Scientific American — [AI Unravels Ancient Roman Scroll Charred By Volcano](: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-unravels-ancient-roman-scrolls-charred-by-volcano/ • Mental Floss — [8 Ancient Writing Systems That Haven't Been Deciphered Yet](: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/12884/8-ancient-writing-systems-havent-been-deciphered-yet • Live Science — [Will the Indus Valley script ever be deciphered?](: https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/will-the-indus-valley-script-ever-be-deciphered This podcast episode was fully generated by AI — research, script, voices, and production. Built with Claude, Piper TTS, and automated pipeline tooling.

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For centuries, undeciphered writing systems—Linear A, the Indus Valley script, Rongorongo—have been locked vaults of human history. But AI isn't just predicting the future; it's decoding the past. From volcanic libraries to museum tablets, we explore how machine learning is solving ancient mysteries that humanity couldn't crack alone, and what it means when machines can finally hear voices from the dead.

00:00 - What does 4,000-year-old silence sound like?
02:45 - The graveyard of undeciphered languages
05:30 - Why the Rosetta Stone was humanity's cheat code
08:15 - Enter the AI time machine
11:00 - Inside Mount Vesuvius's frozen library
14:20 - The algorithms that read the dead
17:45 - What comes next when nothing is undecipherable

---
Sources & further reading:
• Brent Seales / Vesuvius Challenge — [Vesuvius Challenge: Reading the Herculaneum Scrolls](: https://scrollprize.org/
• Yannis Assael, Thea Sommerschield, Jonathan Prag et al. — [Restoring and attributing ancient texts using deep neural networks]( (Nature, 2022): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04448-z
• CNN — [Papyrus scroll burnt to a crisp during Vesuvius eruption deciphered with help of AI](: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/26/science/papyrus-scroll-vesuvius-ai-scli-intl
• Jiaming Luo, Yuan Cao, Regina Barzilay — [Deciphering lost languages using machine learning]( (MIT Technology Review, 2019): https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/07/01/65601/machine-learning-has-been-used-to-automatically-translate-long-lost-languages/
• Nature — [How AI is unlocking ancient texts — and could rewrite history](: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-04161-z
• The Conversation — [Cracking the code: can AI help us decipher ancient languages?]( (July 2026): https://theconversation.com/cracking-the-code-can-ai-help-us-decipher-ancient-languages-288238
• Science / AAAS — [Some Dead Sea Scrolls are older than researchers thought, AI analysis suggests](: https://www.science.org/content/article/some-dead-sea-scrolls-are-older-researchers-thought-ai-analysis-suggests
• Mladen Popović et al. / University of Groningen — Dead Sea Scrolls AI dating research
• Scientific Data (Nature) — [An open dataset for oracle bone character recognition and decipherment]( (2024): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-024-03807-x
• npj Heritage Science — [OracleNet: enhancing Oracle Bone Script recognition]( (2025): https://www.nature.com/articles/s40494-025-01839-z
• Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence — [On automatic decipherment of lost ancient scripts relying on combinatorial optimisation]( (2025): https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/artificial-intelligence/articles/10.3389/frai.2025.1581129/full
• Shih et al. — [Reasoning Over the Glyphs: Evaluation of LLM's Decipherment of Rare Scripts]( (arXiv, 2025): https://arxiv.org/pdf/2501.17785
• Scientific American — [AI Unravels Ancient Roman Scroll Charred By Volcano](: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ai-unravels-ancient-roman-scrolls-charred-by-volcano/
• Mental Floss — [8 Ancient Writing Systems That Haven't Been Deciphered Yet](: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/12884/8-ancient-writing-systems-havent-been-deciphered-yet
• Live Science — [Will the Indus Valley script ever be deciphered?](: https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/will-the-indus-valley-script-ever-be-deciphered

This podcast episode was fully generated by AI — research, script, voices, and production. Built with Claude, Piper TTS, and automated pipeline tooling.

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