3 Students Won $700,000 for Reading 4 Words Nobody Had Seen in 2,000 Years

For nearly 2,000 years, the Herculaneum scrolls were sealed shut by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, turned into fragile black carbon that no scholar could safely open. Then the Vesuvius Challenge released 3D X-ray scans and an ink-detection pipeline to the world. In 2023, three students working from those scans found the first readable word: “porphyras,” the Greek word for purple. That breakthrough led to full passages of Epicurean philosophy being recovered from a scroll no one had read since the ancient Roman world. This is the story of how three students won $700,000 by reading words buried for 2,000 years. I’m Dr. James Croft. Thanks for watching. Herculaneum, Vesuvius, Scrolls, Vesuvius Challenge, AI Archaeology, Ancient Rome, Greek Text, Porphyras, Ancient Scrolls, Lost Texts, Naples Italy, Roman History, Epicurean Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy, Archaeology, Digital Archaeology, Xray Scans, Machine Learning, Hidden Ink, Ancient Manuscripts, Roman Villa, Lost History, Deep History, History Documentary, Ancient Books, Carbonized Scrolls, Philodemus, Roman Empire, Archaeology News, Ancient Texts #Herculaneum, #VesuviusChallenge, #AncientScrolls, #Archaeology, #AIArchaeology, #AncientRome, #LostTexts, #Porphyras, #GreekHistory, #RomanHistory, #DigitalArchaeology, #MachineLearning, #AncientPhilosophy, #HistoryDocumentary, #LostHistory