1"use strict";(self.webpackChunkmy_website=self.webpackChunkmy_website||[]).push([[9358],{8453:(e,s,t)=>{t.d(s,{R:()=>a,x:()=>o});var i=t(6540);const n={},r=i.createContext(n);function a(e){const s=i.useContext(r);return i.useMemo((function(){return"function"==typeof e?e(s):{...s,...e}}),[s,e])}function o(e){let s;return s=e.disableParentContext?"function"==typeof e.components?e.components(n):e.components||n:a(e.components),i.createElement(r.Provider,{value:s},e.children)}},8955:(e,s,t)=>{t.d(s,{A:()=>n});t(6540);var i=t(4848);function n({data:e}){return e?(0,i.jsx)("script",{type:"application/ld+json",dangerouslySetInnerHTML:{__html:JSON.stringify(e)}}):null}},9813:(e,s,t)=>{t.r(s),t.d(s,{assets:()=>c,contentTitle:()=>l,default:()=>m,frontMatter:()=>o,metadata:()=>i,toc:()=>d});const i=JSON.parse('{"id":"firstletters","title":"First word discovered in unopened Herculaneum scroll by 21yo computer science student","description":"This announcement is from October 2023. The \\\\$700,000 2023 Grand Prize it references has since been awarded; see Prizes for what is open today.","source":"@site/docs/22_firstletters.md","sourceDirName":".","slug":"/firstletters","permalink":"/firstletters","draft":false,"unlisted":false,"tags":[],"version":"current","sidebarPosition":22,"frontMatter":{"title":"First word discovered in unopened Herculaneum scroll by 21yo computer science student","sidebar_label":"First word discovered","hide_title":true},"sidebar":"overviewSidebar","previous":{"title":"2023 Grand Prize","permalink":"/grandprize"},"next":{"title":"Community Projects","permalink":"/community_projects"}}');var n=t(4848),r=t(8453),a=t(8955);const o={title:"First word discovered in unopened Herculaneum scroll by 21yo computer science student",sidebar_label:"First word discovered",hide_title:!0},l=void 0,c={},d=[{value:"EduceLab scans",id:"educelab-scans",level:3},{value:"Casey\u2019s crackle pattern",id:"caseys-crackle-pattern",level:3},{value:"Luke Farritor\u2019s model",id:"luke-farritors-model",level:3},{value:"Youssef\u2019s discovery",id:"youssefs-discovery",level:3},{value:"Why were we successful?",id:"why-were-we-successful",level:3},{value:"What\u2019s next?",id:"whats-next",level:3}];function h(e){const s={a:"a",admonition:"admonition",em:"em",h3:"h3",li:"li",p:"p",strong:"strong",ul:"ul",...(0,r.R)(),...e.components},{Head:t}=s;return t||function(e,s){throw new Error("Expected "+(s?"component":"object")+" `"+e+"` to be defined: you likely forgot to import, pass, or provide it.")}("Head",!0),(0,n.jsxs)(n.Fragment,{children:[(0,n.jsxs)(t,{children:[(0,n.jsx)("html",{"data-theme":"dark"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{name:"description",content:"Vesuvius Challenge \\$700,000 Grand Prize \u201cnow definitely achievable\u201d"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"og:type",content:"website"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"og:url",content:"https://scrollprize.org/firstletters"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"og:title",content:"First word discovered in unopened Herculaneum scroll by 21yo computer science student"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"og:description",content:"Vesuvius Challenge \\$700,000 Grand Prize \u201cnow definitely achievable\u201d"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"og:image",content:"https://scrollprize.org/img/firstletters/purple_card-new.webp"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"twitter:card",content:"summary_large_image"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"twitter:url",content:"https://scrollprize.org/firstletters"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"twitter:title",content:"First word discovered in unopened Herculaneum scroll by 21yo computer science student"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"twitter:description",content:"Vesuvius Challenge \\$700,000 Grand Prize \u201cnow definitely achievable\u201d"}),(0,n.jsx)("meta",{property:"twitter:image",content:"https://scrollprize.org/img/firstletters/purple_card-new.webp"})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.admonition,{title:"HISTORICAL MILESTONE",type:"info",children:(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["This announcement is from October 2023. The $700,000 2023 Grand Prize it references has since been ",(0,n.jsx)(s.a,{href:"grandprize",children:"awarded"}),"; see ",(0,n.jsx)(s.a,{href:"prizes",children:"Prizes"}
1)," for what is open today."]})}),"\n","\n",(0,n.jsx)(a.A,{data:{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle",headline:"First word discovered in unopened Herculaneum scroll",datePublished:"2023-10-12",dateModified:"2023-10-12",author:{"@type":"Organization",name:"Vesuvius Challenge"},publisher:{"@type":"Organization",name:"Vesuvius Challenge",logo:{"@type":"ImageObject",url:"https://scrollprize.org/img/social/opengraph.jpg"}},image:"https://scrollprize.org/img/firstletters/purple_card-new.webp",mainEntityOfPage:"https://scrollprize.org/firstletters"}}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/composite_thumb.webp",alt:"Composite image of recovered text from inside a Herculaneum scroll.",width:"2400",height:"296",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("h1",{className:"color-white text-4xl md:text-7xl !mb-2 leading-none",children:["First word discovered in ",(0,n.jsx)("span",{className:"text-accent",children:"unopened Herculaneum scroll"})," by 21yo computer science student"]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)("div",{className:"md:text-3xl text-lg font-medium mt-6 mb-2 opacity-80 leading-none",children:"Vesuvius Challenge $700,000 Grand Prize \u201cnow definitely achievable\u201d"}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)("div",{className:"opacity-60 mb-8 italic",children:"October 12th, 2023"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{className:"",children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/image_3840-clipped-new.webp",alt:"Ancient Greek handwriting recovered from inside the scroll, hidden for 2000 years.",width:"2638",height:"2115",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"This handwriting has been hidden for 2000 years."})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:(0,n.jsxs)(s.strong,{children:["Code is on Github: ",(0,n.jsx)(s.a,{href:"https://github.com/lukeboi/scroll-first-letters",children:"Luke"}),", ",(0,n.jsx)(s.a,{href:"https://github.com/younader/Vesuvius-First-Letters",children:"Youssef"}),"."]})}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"The Herculaneum papyri, ancient scrolls housed in the library of a private villa near Pompeii, were buried and carbonized by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. For almost 2,000 years, this lone surviving library from antiquity was buried underground under 20 meters of volcanic mud. In the 1700s, they were excavated, and while they were in some ways preserved by the eruption, they were so fragile that they would turn to dust if mishandled. How do you read a scroll you can\u2019t open? For hundreds of years, this question went unanswered."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["That is until Luke Farritor, a contestant of the ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"/",children:"Vesuvius Challenge"}),", became the first person in two millennia to see an entire word from within an unopened scroll this August. For that, we are thrilled to award Luke a $40,000 First Letters Prize, which required contestants to find at least 10 letters in a 4 cm",(0,n.jsx)("sup",{children:"2"})," area in a scroll."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("div",{className:"flex flex-wrap items-end max-w-[100%] mb-4",children:[(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{className:"w-[50%]",children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/luke-submission.webp",alt:"Luke Farritor's First Letters Prize submission showing recovered letters.",width:"512",height:"295",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"Luke Farritor\u2019s First Letters Prize submission."})]}),(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{className:"w-[50%] max-w-[250px]",children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"w-[250px] zoomable",src:"/img/firstletters/luke.webp",alt:"Luke Farritor holding the campfire scroll at EduceLab.",width:"836",height:"1114",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsxs)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:["Luke holding the ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"tutorial1#campfire-scroll",children:"campfire scroll"})," at EduceLab."]})]})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Shortly after that, another contestant, Youssef Nader, ",(0,n.jsx)(s.em,{children:"independently"})," discovered the same word in the same area, with even clearer results \u2014 winning the second place prize of $10,000."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("div",{className:"flex flex-wrap items-end max-w-[100%] mb-4",children:[(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{className:"w-[50%]",children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/youssef-submission.webp",alt:"Youssef Nader's First Letters Prize submission, showing the same word even more clearly.",width:"512",height:"285",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"Youssef\u2019s even clearer submission."})]}),(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{className:"w-[50%] max-w-[250px]",children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/youssef-reaction.webp",alt:"Youssef Nader smiling happily on a video call.",width:"512",height:"285",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"Youssef\u2019s happy face on a call."})]})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["These breakthroughs were both inspired by contestant Casey Handmer, who was the first person to find substantial, convincing evidence of ink within the unopened scrolls, as explained in his ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2023/08/05/reading-ancient-scrolls/",children:"blog post"})," and ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipPC8Z9P1MxxS6UdoCJWDGofjxSHfBYGgDp47gSOoJW1gtKBGeIeXzAc6AbOVyhsLQ/photo/AF1QipNlEs7d9PS5whLeu2EIdGcxBfgpUb4tvaIi1w5i?key=cHJ2ZDFmVVBfVG8tbV80WUkwREVIVTN1aUYxQXhR",children:"this video"}),". His insights led directly to Luke\u2019s discovery, as well as an improved understanding of the ink signal. We\u2019re awarding him a $10,000 First Ink Prize. Congratulations to Casey, Luke, and You
1ssef!"]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"So how did we get here, and how do these models work? Let\u2019s start with a little history."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.h3,{id:"educelab-scans",children:"EduceLab scans"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Our story starts in 2019, when professor Brent Seales at the University of Kentucky\u2019s EduceLab ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/oct/03/ancient-scrolls-charred-by-vesuvius-could-be-read-once-again",children:"imaged Herculaneum scrolls"})," in a particle accelerator, generating 3D CT-scans at resolutions as high as 4 \xb5m."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"His team also scanned and photographed detached scroll fragments bearing visible ink, thus providing a ground truth dataset."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"w-[500px] zoomable",src:"/img/tutorials/ml-overview-alpha.webp",alt:"Diagram of training a machine learning model on ground truth data from detached scroll fragments.",width:"2384",height:"1184",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsxs)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:["Training a machine learning model on the ground truth data from the detached fragments. From Stephen Parsons\u2019 ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cs_etds/138/",children:"PhD dissertation"}),". \xa9 Stephen Parsons."]})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Professor Seales\u2019 graduate student, Stephen Parsons, worked on detecting ink from the CT-scans using machine learning models and ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"tutorial5",children:"found success with the detached fragments"}),". That success caught the eye of tech entrepreneurs Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, who started Vesuvius Challenge to accelerate this progress. They launched an open competition March of 2023, and \u2014 alongside a $700,000 Grand Prize \u2014 awarded several smaller prizes for the development of open source tools and techniques."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Early in the summer, a small team of annotators (the \u201csegmentation team\u201d) joined our effort. They began ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"tutorial3",children:"mapping the 3D structure of the scroll"})," using tools initially built by EduceLab and improved by our community. By July we had segmented and \u201cvirtually flattened\u201d hundreds of cm2 of papyrus."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"w-[500px] zoomable",src:"/img/firstletters/segmentation-chart.webp",alt:"Chart showing the growth in area of mapped scroll surface, in square centimeters, over time.",width:"946",height:"572",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsxs)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:["Progress of mapping the scrolls, in area (cm\xb2), from the ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zC_5vkqWgb_5z4Q9BYsETF7_3r1BYPccdAnS_GRYOaQ/edit#gid=2051117465",children:"Segment Directory spreadsheet"}),"."]})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.h3,{id:"caseys-crackle-pattern",children:"Casey\u2019s crackle pattern"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["In early August, contestant Casey Handmer, an ex-JPL startup founder and polymath, wrote a ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2023/08/05/reading-ancient-scrolls/",children:"blog post"})," about his discovery of a \u201ccrackle pattern\u201d that looks like ink."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Casey found the pattern by staring at the segmented CT scans for hours on end. This was a major and surprising discovery. Stephen Parsons had seen ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"tutorial5",children:"direct evidence of ink"})," in detached fragments before, but not yet in the scrolls."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"Casey was the first person in 2,000 years to find ink \u2014 and a letter \u2014 inside an unopened scroll."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("div",{className:"mb-4",children:[(0,n.jsxs)("div",{className:"flex flex-wrap justify-between items-end max-w-[500px]",children:[(0,n.jsx)("figure",{className:"w-[49%] mb-0",children:(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/pi1.webp",alt:"Ink visible as a cracked texture in the scroll surface volume.",width:"750",height:"709",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"})}),(0,n.jsx)("figure",{className:"w-[49%] mb-0",children:(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/pi2.webp",alt:"Annotation showing the location of the ink, possibly a pi or the bottom of a capital eta.",width:"601",height:"566",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"})})]}),(0,n.jsxs)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:["Left: Ink visible as cracked texture. Right: annotation showing ink location. It could be a \u201cpi\u201d or the bottom of a capital \u201ceta\u201d. From Casey\u2019s ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2023/08/05/reading-ancient-scrolls/",children:"blog post"}),"."]})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.h3,{id:"luke-farritors-model",children:"Luke Farritor\u2019s model"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["After this discovery, several contestants looked for more crackle, but it seemed quite rare. Luke Farritor, a college student and SpaceX summer intern working at Starbase, had heard about Vesuvius Challenge from Dwarkesh Patel\u2019s ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcvMjoJdck4",children:"podcast interview"})," with Nat."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"He saw Casey\u2019s crackle pattern being discussed in the Discord, and began spending his evenings and late nights training a machine learning model on the crackle pattern. With each new crackle found, the model improved, revealing more crackle in the scroll \u2014 a cycle of discovery and refinement."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"He found a few dozen ink strokes \u2014 and some complete letters \u2014 that could be labeled and used as training data."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"w-[500px] zoomable",src:"/img/firstletters/ink-label.webp",alt:"Left: cracked ink visible against the papyrus fiber background. Right: the resulting binary ink label.",width:"512",height:"312",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"Left: cracked ink visible against papyrus fiber background. Right: Resulting binary ink label."})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"Before long, the model was unveiling traces of crackle invisible to his own eye. Soon, these traces began to form letters and hints of actual words."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"Luke then made a submission to our First Letters Prize, which required contestants to find at least 10 letters in a 4 cm2 area. This was his first submission:"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"w-[500px] zoomable",src:"/img/firstletters/luke-first.webp",alt:"Luke's first submission, faintly showing the Greek word \u03a0\u039f\u03a1\u03a6\u03a5\u03a1\u0391\u03f9 (porphyras).",width:"512",height:"297",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"Luke\u2019s first submission, faintly showing the word \u03a0\u039f\u03a1\u03a6\u03a5\u03a1\u0391\u03f9 (porphyras)."})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"When professor Seales showed this image to our team of papyrologists, scholars specializing in works on papyrus, they gasped: they could immediately read the word \u201cporphyras,\u201d despite the letters being faint."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"After thorough technical review, we sent a newer version of his picture to the panel of papyrologists. Independently and unanimously, they annotated 13 letters, albeit with varying levels of confidence:"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"w-[500px] zoomable",src:"/img/firstletters/luke-boxes.webp",alt:"The recovered word with colored boxes marking each papyrologist's confidence in the 13 annotated letters.",width:"1000",height:"492",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsxs)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:["Each square represents one review. ",(0,n.jsx)("span",{className:"text-green-500",children:"Green"}),": over 80% confidence. ",(0,n.jsx)("span",{className:"text-yellow-500",children:"Yellow"}),": 50-80% confidence. ",(0,n.jsx)("span",{className:"text-red-500",children:"Red"}),": under 50% confidence."]})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"Indeed, the word held up to scrutiny. \u201cPorphyras\u201d is an exciting word: it means \u201cpurple\u201d and is quite rare in ancient texts."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)("div",{className:"mb-1",children:"One papyrologist noted:"}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)("div",{className:"border-l-4 border-solid border-0 pl-4 mb-4 italic border-l-[var(--ifm-color-primary)]",children:"\u201cThe sequence \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03c6\u03c5\u0323\u03c1\u0323\u03b1\u03c2\u0323 may be \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03c6\u03cd\u0323\u03c1\u0323\u03b1\u03c2\u0323 (noun, purple dye or cloths of purple) or \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03c6\u03c5\u0323\u03c1\u0323\u1fb6\u03c2\u0323
1(adjective, purple). Due to the lack of context it is not possible to exclude \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03c6\u03cd\u0323\u03c1\u0323\u03b1 \u03c2\u0323\u03ba[ or \u03c0\u03bf\u03c1\u03c6\u03c5\u0323\u03c1\u0323\u1fb6 \u03c2\u0323\u03ba[.\u201d"}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"If you\u2019re trying to find these letters in the image, keep in mind that our modern characters look a little bit different. The letters in this ancient script look more like this: \u03a0\u039f\u03a1\u03a6\u03a5\u03a1\u0391\u03f9. Note that texts from this time didn\u2019t use spaces, making it harder to determine word boundaries."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Luke\u2019s First Letters Prize submission is available now on ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://github.com/lukeboi/scroll-first-letters",children:"GitHub"}),"."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"max-w-[300px] zoomable",src:"/img/firstletters/luke-reaction.webp",alt:"Animated reaction of Luke celebrating when told he won the prize.",width:"758",height:"432",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"Luke\u2019s reaction when we told him he won the prize a few days ago."})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.h3,{id:"youssefs-discovery",children:"Youssef\u2019s discovery"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Meanwhile, another contestant, Youssef Nader, an Egyptian biorobotics grad student in Berlin, pursued a different approach. Motivated by Casey and Luke\u2019s findings, he sifted through the winning entries of the ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://www.kaggle.com/competitions/vesuvius-challenge-ink-detection",children:"Ink Detection prize on Kaggle"})," \u2014 which was focused on improving Stephen Parsons\u2019 approach of machine learning in detached fragments. He used a domain transfer technique to adapt these models to the scrolls: ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://github.com/younader/VesuviusPretraining",children:"unsupervised pretraining"})," on the scroll data, followed by fine-tuning on the fragment labels."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"w-[100%] zoomable",src:"/img/data/francoise.webp",alt:"One of the detached scroll fragments with known ground truth being scanned at the particle accelerator.",width:"2154",height:"812",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"One of the detached fragments with known ground truth being scanned at the particle accelerator."})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["He submitted his idea for an \u201cInk Detection Followup Prize\u201d and won a small prize. The idea seemed promising, but as far as we knew, that was that. Several weeks later, Youssef made his own submission to the First Letters prize. He had seen Luke\u2019s early results which had been shared on ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://twitter.com/natfriedman/status/1695870954734490003",children:"X"})," and Discord and decided to focus on the same area within the scroll."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"With this modified model from the Kaggle competition, he managed to find some letters, though entirely without relying on Casey\u2019s method of manually looking for crackle. He then annotated what looked like letter shapes to the label data."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("div",{className:"flex flex-wrap items-end max-w-[100%] mb-4",children:[(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{className:"w-[50%]",children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/youssef-first.webp",alt:"Youssef's earliest image of recovered letters from the scroll.",width:"1178",height:"694",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"Youssef\u2019s earliest image."})]}),(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{className:"w-[50%]",children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/youssef-inklabels.webp",alt:"Youssef's first set of hypothesized ink labels traced over the letter shapes.",width:"1600",height:"941",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"His first set of hypothesized ink labels."})]})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"He repeated this pseudo-labeling iteratively, resulting in speculative labels for a number of segments within the scroll. Models trained on these labels were then capable of detecting ink from within the scroll and the training data from the detached scroll fragments were ultimately removed."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"The final models trained solely on internal scroll segments resulted in the image below, securing Youssef the prize."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{className:"w-[500px] zoomable",src:"/img/firstletters/youssef-submission2.webp",alt:"Youssef's final First Letters Prize submission with clearly recovered letters.",width:"1600",height:"890",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async"}),(0,n.jsx)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:"Youssef\u2019s final submission."})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"This time, the papyrologists agreed more strongly about the letters. They even began speculating on possible words above (\u03b1\u03bd\u03c5\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1 / ANYONTA, \u201cachieving\u201d) and below (\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03b9\u03c9\u03bd / OMOI\u03c9N, \u201csimilar\u201d)."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"If these words are indeed what we think they are, this papyrus scroll likely contains an entirely new text, unseen by the modern world."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Youssef\u2019s First Letters Prize submission is available now on ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://github.com/younader/Vesuvius-First-Letters",children:"GitHub"}),"."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.h3,{id:"why-were-we-successful",children:"Why were we successful?"}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"There were many contributions from different people in the critical path for these discoveries. Our combination of competition and open source (through \u201cprogress prizes\u201d) seems to work! To highlight a few key contributions:"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.ul,{children:["\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.li,{children:"Youssef used a model from the Kaggle competition and was inspired by Luke\u2019s results to look in the same area."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.li,{children:"Luke\u2019s search for crackle was directly inspired by Casey\u2019s work."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.li,{children:"Casey was able to look through many sheets of papyrus because our segmentation team had mapped out hundreds of cm2."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.li,{children:"The segmentation team was able to map out a lot of papyrus because of tooling built by contestants who worked on \u201cSegmentation Tooling Prizes\u201d (work by Julian Schilliger, Chuck, Yao Hsiao, and many others
1)."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.li,{children:["The segmentation tooling advances were possible because contestants built on top of existing open source tools by professor Seales\u2019 team (work by Seth Parker, Stephen Parsons, and many others). And of course, the contest itself wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the foundation that Dr. Seales and his team, along with their ",(0,n.jsx)(s.a,{href:"/#partners",children:"funders"}),", have laid out and continue to support."]}),"\n"]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"Looking back at what got us to this point, it seems that almost every single thing we did in running this contest so far has been load-bearing. We\u2019re not quite sure what to make of this! Perhaps that progress is more fragile and success is more contingent than it often seems in retrospect."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.h3,{id:"whats-next",children:"What\u2019s next?"}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"The segmentation team and contestants continue to make progress, and a few days ago Youssef\u2019s model generated a new image of shocking clarity and size:"}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)("figure",{children:[(0,n.jsx)("img",{src:"/img/firstletters/youssef-new.webp",alt:"Youssef's latest image showing four and a half columns of scroll text separated by margins.",width:"2082",height:"331",loading:"lazy",decoding:"async",className:"zoomable"}),(0,n.jsxs)("figcaption",{className:"mt-0",children:["Youssef\u2019s ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{target:"_blank",href:"/img/firstletters/youssef-new.webp",children:"latest image"})," (",(0,n.jsx)("a",{target:"_blank",href:"/img/firstletters/composite_fullsize.webp",children:"variant"}),"), from segments ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://dl.ash2txt.org/full-scrolls/Scroll1/PHercParis4.volpkg/paths/20230929220924/",children:"20230929220924"})," and ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://dl.ash2txt.org/full-scrolls/Scroll1/PHercParis4.volpkg/paths/20231005123333/",children:"20231005123333"}),"."]})]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"In this image you can clearly see four and a half columns of text, separated by margins. Many more letters are now visible, though not all are immediately legible. Our papyrological team is working hard to further investigate this result, and we\u2019ll have updates on this soon."}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["These advancements demonstrate that the ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"grand_prize",children:"$700,000 Grand Prize"})," is within reach. Our optimism is at an all time high."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsxs)(s.p,{children:["Now is the best time to get involved! Join our vibrant ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://discord.gg/V4fJhvtaQn",children:"Discord community"}),", sign up to receive ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://scrollprize.substack.com/",children:"newsletters via Substack"}),", or follow ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"https://twitter.com/scrollprize",children:"@scrollprize"})," on X. To get started, download some ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"data",children:"data"}),", walk through some of our ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"tutorial",children:"tutorials"}),", and catch up on the progress made by contestants by looking at the ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"winners",children:"prize winners"})," and ",(0,n.jsx)("a",{href:"community_projects",children:"community tools"}),"."]}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"Will you be the one unlocking the knowledge in hundreds of scrolls \u2014 doubling the amount of texts from antiquity \u2014 and potentially thousands more that are yet to be excavated, becoming the last hero of the Roman Empire and winning $700,000 while you\u2019re at it?"}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:"The race is on."}),"\n",(0,n.jsx)(s.p,{children:(0,n.jsxs)(s.strong,{children:["Code is on Github: ",(0,n.jsx)(s.a,{href:"https://github.com/lukeboi/scroll-first-letters",children:"Luke"}),", ",(0,n.jsx)(s.a,{href:"https://github.com/younader/Vesuvius-First-Letters",children:"Youssef"}),"."]})})]})}function m(e={}){const{wrapper:s}={...(0,r.R)(),...e.components};return s?(0,n.jsx)(s,{...e,children:(0,n.jsx)(h,{...e})}):h(e)}}}]);
Line numbers count LF bytes from the start of the resource, as the search results do. Vendor segments are library code the classifier recognised; they are stored but not indexed. Bytes are shown as Latin1 characters, one per byte.