Ancient Buddhist scroll virtually unrolled with battery imaging tech

Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have successfully used advanced 3D X-ray tomography combined with artificial intelligence to virtually unroll and read ancient silk-wrapped Buddhist scrolls from a Mongolian Gungervaa shrine housed at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. These tiny scrolls, measuring just a few centimeters, contain sacred Sanskrit prayers written in Tibetan script. The non-destructive imaging technique, originally developed for material sciences such as battery research, allowed scientists to create detailed digital reconstructions without physically opening the fragile scrolls, preserving their integrity. The scrolls, part of a portable shrine tradition in Mongolian Buddhism, were nearly lost during the Soviet-backed Mongolian Revolution of 1921 but survived and arrived in Germany in 1932. The virtual unrolling revealed around 50 tightly wound layers of text, with ink containing metal particles rather than traditional soot-based ink. The deciphered text included the famous Tibetan Buddhist mantra for universal compassion, “Om mani pad