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These bronze dancers were found between 1750 and 1765 in Ercolano in the Villa of the Papyri (also known as the Villa of the Pisoni).
The most important finding at this site were 1,800 rolls of charred papyri, representing the earliest library ever discovered. The scrolls are preserved in the National Library of Naples. Because of heat damage from the volcanic mudflow that buried Ercolano in 79 A.D., the unrolling and transcription of these papyrus scrolls had been a very painstaking, practically impossible operation. In the 21st century, particle accelerators, X-ray phase-contrast imaging, and artificial intelligence are being used to virtually unroll and decode the brittle manuscripts without ever physically touching them. |
