Overview
- Researchers announced on Thursday, June 25, that AI applied to super‑high‑resolution particle accelerator scans produced the first complete non‑invasive reading of a closed, carbonised Herculaneum scroll.
- The team recovered long passages including about 70 columns from Philodemus’s On Vices, portions of On Gods (Book 8), and roughly 1.5 metres of text across 20 columns from a 200–300 BC document discussing ethics and art.
- The Vesuvius Challenge said it will publish its scan data, code and models publicly and is offering a $1 million prize to the first person or team to read any other full scroll, building on roughly $1.8 million already awarded in related prizes.
- About 45 scrolls and fragments have been scanned so far, with more than 600 unopened scrolls remaining, and researchers reported rapid gains with one team producing about 140 new columns in a recent 24‑hour span.
- Methods rely on 3D X‑ray imaging down to micrometre resolution and AI tuned per scroll because inks and damage vary, so wider generalisation will require many more scans and community development but the project says scale‑up is now realistic.