The Herculaneum scrolls, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, are notoriously difficult to read without causing further damage. Researchers have been developing imaging and scanning techniques to peek inside them, but the sheer number of scrolls and the effort required for each scan makes it important to know which ones are worth pursuing.
To address this, scientists created their own model Herculaneum scrolls with similar materials and damage patterns. Using these replicas, they tested how well different instruments could identify scrolls likely to yield readable text beneath the carbonized layers.
The key finding, according to the source, is that even a handheld XRF scanner is sufficient to determine the most promising scrolls for further analysis. This suggests that a relatively portable and accessible tool could help researchers screen real scrolls quickly, without immediately resorting to more expensive or elaborate imaging systems.
Because the article focuses on this single study, there are no conflicting findings to compare. The reported advance is specifically in prioritization: not in the final reading of the scrolls themselves, but in deciding which ones deserve the next step in imaging or unrolling.