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New Technique Helps Archaeologists Decipher Ancient Languages

A conservationist works on a 1,500-year-old mosaic floor bearing Greek writing, discovered in Jerusalem's Old City. (Reuters)
A conservationist works on a 1,500-year-old mosaic floor bearing Greek writing, discovered in Jerusalem's Old City. (Reuters)
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New Technique Helps Archaeologists Decipher Ancient Languages

A conservationist works on a 1,500-year-old mosaic floor bearing Greek writing, discovered in Jerusalem's Old City. (Reuters)
A conservationist works on a 1,500-year-old mosaic floor bearing Greek writing, discovered in Jerusalem's Old City. (Reuters)

Developing an AI network can help scholars restore ancient Greek texts. Researchers at University of Oxford have recruited new deep learning techniques to decipher symbols of ancient languages.

The research team says there are many artifacts featuring important historical symbols and inscriptions that erode with time, noting that the clear inscriptions that archaeologists can read and understand are few.

In a test, where the AI attempted to fill the gaps in 2,949 damaged inscriptions, human experts managed to explain 30 percent of unclear symbols, whereas the network took two hours to decipher 50 inscriptions, reported the New Scientist website.

The team said the new network named "Pythia" is able to provide 20 different predictions to explain each eroded inscription, leaving the selection of the suitable hypothesis that correspond to the context of the ancient inscriptions to archaeologists.

In addition to providing various options, Pythia evaluates the reliability of each option or hypothesis it offers to archaeologists to help them reach the correct one.

"Pythia is the first electronic model used to restore ancient archaeological inscriptions by deciphering the eroded letters through deep learning networks," the study team wrote.

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Peru Gas Workers Find Thousand-year-old Mummy

Peruvian gas workers discovered the mummy of a boy believed to be over 1,000 years old while installing pipes in Lima. Ernesto BENAVIDES / AFP
Peruvian gas workers discovered the mummy of a boy believed to be over 1,000 years old while installing pipes in Lima. Ernesto BENAVIDES / AFP
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Peru Gas Workers Find Thousand-year-old Mummy

Peruvian gas workers discovered the mummy of a boy believed to be over 1,000 years old while installing pipes in Lima. Ernesto BENAVIDES / AFP
Peruvian gas workers discovered the mummy of a boy believed to be over 1,000 years old while installing pipes in Lima. Ernesto BENAVIDES / AFP

Peruvian gas workers this week found a thousand-year-old mummy while installing pipes in Lima, their company said, confirming the latest discovery of a pre-Hispanic tomb in the capital.

The workers found the trunk of a huarango tree (a species native to coastal Peru), "which served as a tomb marker in the past," at a depth of 50 centimeters (20 inches), archaeologist Jesus Bahamonde, scientific coordinator of Calidda gas company, told reporters.

The mummy of a boy aged between 10 and 15, was found at a depth of 1.2 meters, he added, said AFP.

"The burial and the objects correspond to a style that developed between 1000 and 1200," he said.

The remains discovered on Monday were found "in a sitting position, with the arms and legs bent," according to Bahamonde.

They were found in a shroud which also contained calabash gourds.

Ceramic objects, including plates, bottles and jugs decorated with geometric figures and figures of fishermen, were found next to the mummy.

The tomb and artifacts belong to the pre-Inca Chancay culture, which lived in the Lima area between the 11th and 15th centuries.

They were discovered while gas workers were removing earth from an avenue in the Puente Piedra district of northern Lima.

In Peru, utility companies must hire archaeologists when drilling the earth, because of the possibility of hitting upon heritage sites.

Calidda has made more than 2,200 archaeological finds since 2004.

Lima is home to over 500 archaeological sites, including dozens of "huacas" as ancient cemeteries are known in the Indigenous Quechua language.