The birth of human writing marked the dawn of History and is crucial to our understanding of past civilisations and the world we live in today. For example, more than 2,500 years ago, the Greeks began writing on stone, pottery, and metal to document everything from leases and laws to calendars and oracles, giving a detailed insight into the Mediterranean region. Unfortunately, it’s an incomplete record. Many of the surviving inscriptions have been damaged over the centuries or moved from their original location. In addition, modern dating techniques, such as radiocarbon dating, cannot be used on these materials, making inscriptions difficult and time-consuming to interpret.