"Resurrect an ancient library from the ashes of a volcano. Win Prizes. Make History."

The Vesuvius Challenge https://scrollprize.org/ is an ongoing competition that leverages machine learning, computer vision, and geometry to decipher the ancient Herculaneum scrolls, which were carbonized during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Launched in March 2023, the challenge has already awarded over $1 million in prizes to teams successfully extracting text from these unopened scrolls.

In 2023, participants achieved a significant breakthrough by extracting more than four passages of previously unread text from inside a carbonized scroll, demonstrating the feasibility of virtually unwrapping these delicate artifacts using advanced imaging and machine learning techniques.

Building on this success, the 2024 phase of the Vesuvius Challenge aims to scale these techniques to read entire scrolls. The primary objectives include developing automated segmentation methods to efficiently trace the papyrus surfaces within the scrolls and establishing effective scanning protocols to facilitate the reading of the approximately 300 extant scrolls.

To incentivize progress, the competition offers several prizes, including a $200,000 Grand Prize for reading 90% of four scrolls, a $100,000 prize for the first automated segmentation that matches or exceeds previous manual results, and multiple $60,000 prizes for identifying specific text elements within the scrolls.

The Vesuvius Challenge represents a collaborative effort to unlock the secrets of ancient texts, combining historical scholarship with cutting-edge technology to recover lost works of literature and philosophy.

Read the interesting story about it here https://scrollprize.org/