Vesuvius Challenge reads first text from PHerc. 306B scroll, awards $50,000 prize
What happened
On November 3, 2026, Hacker News' front page reported that the Vesuvius Challenge published readable text recovered from the carbonized scroll PHerc. 306B, saying this is the first time the scroll has been read in two thousand years. The announcement also confirmed the winners of the related work: Liam Warner and Nicola Bodill. The Vesuvius Challenge awarded the two the First Letters Prize for PHerc. 306B, worth $50,000, for their work recovering readable text. The report covers only the first reading of the text and the prize; it does not give the text's content.
Written by AI from the coverage · updated 2 hours ago
Coverage
Follow the reports to see the story from different sides.
- Hacker News front pageWriting seen in PHerc. 306B, for the first time in 2000 years
Vesuvius Challenge 向 Liam Warner 与 Nicola Bodill 授予 PHerc. 306B 的 $50K First Letters Prize，表彰他们从碳化卷轴中恢复可读文字的工作。
Heat over time
Not enough continuous observations to draw a trend yet.