The present experiments have established the potential of X-ray fluorescence to reveal traces of letters on abraded surfaces of ancient inscriptions, and to provide information about how the inscriptions were created. The small number of inscriptions examined here is not sufficient to establish this method's overall effectiveness and the factors relevant to its successful application. A proof-of-concept study on an inscription with unrecovered text is required. This should employ a uniformly but modestly eroded stone and more advanced data collection and analysis protocols to maximize fluorescence signal-to-background and to extract character patterns from noisier data. Characterization of the composition of ancient marbles, tools and pigments by XRF or related techniques, together with an understanding of how tool and pigment residues weather, wear, and infiltrate marble would be valuable in interpreting observed trace element concentrations and distributions. With further development, X-ray fluorescence has the potential to become an essential tool in epigraphy. By revealing text that has long been hidden, it may shed new light on many ancient civilizations.