diff --git a/lib/PAUSE/pmfile.pm b/lib/PAUSE/pmfile.pm
index 8b9041b20..fcbbb5e18 100644
--- a/lib/PAUSE/pmfile.pm
+++ b/lib/PAUSE/pmfile.pm
@@ -569,9 +569,28 @@ sub parse_version {
 sub normalize_version {
     my($self,$v) = @_;
     $v = "undef" unless defined $v;
+
+    # What on earth is this hunk about?  Well, if the user has written
+    #
+    #   $VERSION = 0.000001
+    #
+    # ...instead of...
+    #
+    #   $VERSION = '0.000001'
+    #
+    # ...then when we eval the version value, we get a number.  That's bad,
+    # because we'll lose fidelity.  Sometimes this only means that 1.100
+    # becomes 1.1, but the worse case is when a version like 0.000001 becomes
+    # 1e-6, which then can't be turned into a version object with version->new.
+    #
+    # If the stringified version appears to be scientific notation, format it
+    # back into expanded form and make a version of that.
     my $dv = Dumpvalue->new;
-    my $sdv = $dv->stringify($v,1); # second argument prevents ticks
-    $Logger->log("result of normalize_version: $sdv");
+    my $sdv = $dv->stringify($v, 1); # second argument prevents ticks
+    if ($sdv =~ /\A[0-9](?:\.[0-9]+)?e([-+])?[0-9]+\z/a) {
+        my $adj = $1 eq '-' ? 'small' : 'large';
+        die "very large or small numeric version; you must use a string in your source\n";
+    }
 
     return $v if $v eq "undef";
     return $v if $v =~ /^\{.*\}$/; # JSON object
diff --git a/t/mldistwatch-misc.t b/t/mldistwatch-misc.t
index f75a4d290..25de3e527 100644
--- a/t/mldistwatch-misc.t
+++ b/t/mldistwatch-misc.t
@@ -581,6 +581,29 @@ subtest "do not index dists without META file" => sub {
   );
 };
 
+subtest "very small version number (as numeric literal)" => sub {
+  my $pause = PAUSE::TestPAUSE->init_new;
+  $pause->upload_author_fake(PERSON => 'Tiny-Version-1.002.tar.gz', {
+    packages => [
+      'Tiny::Version' => {
+        version => '0.000001',
+        layout  => { version => 'our-literal' },
+      },
+    ],
+  });
+
+  my $result = $pause->test_reindex;
+
+  $pause->file_not_updated_ok(
+    $result->tmpdir
+            ->file(qw(cpan modules 02packages.details.txt.gz)),
+    "there were no things to update",
+  );
+
+  local $TODO = "sending a useful warning here is more or less impossible";
+  fail("assert a report was sent with an explanation");
+};
+
 done_testing;
 
 # Local Variables: