Papyrus with a bang

Discover the story of a papyrus from the Ptolemaic era, around 200 BC. Born on the banks of the Nile, it was harvested and transformed into writing papyrus. It was used to record a list of livestock before being classified in a large library. Deemed useless, it was then thrown away before being recycled into mummy cartonnage! It was then molded, stuccoed and painted to serve as magical protection for an old man's mummy. Thanks to this recycling, archaeologists and epigraphists have been able to find these papyri written under the stucco decorations and have been able to exploit this invaluable documentary source relating the daily lives of men and women over two thousand years ago!