[SunkenCiv]

from this very old topic (more than ten years, probably):

In 1738, it was rediscovered and the excavators removed statues and objets d'art. In the process, they threw away many lumps of what they took to be coal or charcoal. It was not until 1752 when they discovered the villa's library - neatly lined with 1800 rolls of papyrus - that they realised the discarded material had been books.

[SunkenCiv]

Just an update to the ping message.

• We read an entire scroll -- without ever opening it [An entire Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time | Vesuvius Challenge] [07/02/2026]
• Battle for the books of Herculaneum (1 of finest libraries of the ancient world, covered in Lava) [05/15/2005]
  "They look like lumps of coal, and when the Swiss military engineer and his team who first explored the buried town of Herculaneum in the 18th century encountered them, that was how they were treated: as ancient rubbish, to be dumped in the sea."
• Millionaire to fund dig for lost Roman library [Villa of the Papyri] [02/14/2005]
• New hope in hunt for Roman library [02/13/2005]
• Focus: The search for the lost library of Rome [02/01/2005]
• Focus: The search for the lost library of Rome [01/23/2005]
• Herculean task for modern scholars - More on the Discovered Roman Literature being unearthed. [04/05/2002]
• Experts urge race against time to unearth last secrets of Herculaneum s lost library [04/03/2002]