The PHerc. 1667 scroll surfaced in a villa containing other scorched scrolls in the city of Herculaneum. Herculaneum was also destroyed along with Pompeii after the Mt Vesuvius eruption. The 1800 year old scrolls were too fragile to be unfurled after three damaging attempts made between the 1800s and 1980s.

New X-ray microtomography was conducted in France and the UK and led to the first winners of the Vesuvius Challenge to read it. In October 2023, a 21-year-old student won $40,000 for decoding the scrolls’ first word. Months later, three more won the Vesuvius Challenge’s $700,000 grand prize by reading several passages from a single scroll. Efforts continue. Just last February, new words emerged.