Egyptian Papyri and Technology

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Table of Contents

Abstract for a Conference
Introduction
Papyri Technology
Papyri Manufacturing and Usage
Conclusion
Works Cited
Footnotes

Abstract for a Conference

Different nations have their historical artifacts. Despite having pioneered various technological developments such as the wheel and the ramp, prehistoric Egypt had one unique innovation that would lead to the development of the written form of language. The papyrus technology led to the innovation of an alternative writing surface that was different from stone tablets or clay surfaces. Papyrus is an English word that is derived from the Latin word ‘papules’. Papyrus is a plant that was common in Ancient Egypt.

However, today, it grows in the East and Central Africa in natural forests. In Ancient Egypt literature, the word papyrus referred to the plant from which the papyrus writing material was made or the material itself. Currently, the word may refer to sheets made of papyrus in which various documents are written. Such documents are often in the form of scrolls or rolls. The appropriate meaning of the term papyrus may be identified from the context in which it is used.

Papyrus is a landmark of ancient Egyptians’ innovation. Hence, treating the technology as extinct amounts to making an inappropriate assumption that the technology is now insignificant, yet modern civilizations can reconnect their pragmatic strides towards their status to such ancient technologies. For example, modern machinery cannot operate without simple machines such as levers and the wheel and axle.

Consequently, although the Ancient Egypt wheel may not match up to the exact application of the device in modern machines, say in cranes and hoists, the significance of the device cannot be secluded from its early inventors. Similarly, the pulped paper technology, which came to replace the papyrus technology, could not have been successfully established without the recognition of the technology that preceded it (papyrus). Therefore, the papyrus technology cannot be left out in a conference that discusses the current technological status of different nations, for instance, in terms of language and writing.

Incorporating the papyrus technology into a conference that seeks to discuss the history of Egyptians begins by understanding how the technology worked, including its significance to modern developments and hence the reason for including this paper in such a conference. It discusses the technology, right from its origin, including how the manufacturing of papyrus was accomplished. It also discusses its contribution to developments in science, language, and related achievements such as record keeping. Now, a question arises on whether technology can be revived.

Hassan Ragad successfully developed the process that was used to manufacture papyrus in limited proportions in Egypt using the re-introduced papyrus. The technology only serves historical and archeological significance. However, although it may not be feasible to start manufacturing papyrus writing materials for commercial purposes due to modern developments in technology, including paper and electronics, papyrus remains a significant plant even in the modern ages.

For instance, in East and Central Africa, it is deployed in making hats, roofing, ceilings, and baskets among other household accessories. Hence, the papyrus industry may flourish in Egypt to constitute an economic activity that may be associated with the rich cultural history of the nation. With this insight, the paper argues that although papyrus expertise was substituted by the pulped paper technology when Arabs established it in Egypt in 105 BCE, the expertise was a significant part of Egyptian modernization that led to the expansion of various bodies of knowledge, including astronomy, mathematics, language, and science.

Introduction

Egypt has a rich history of human civilization. The history includes works such as Obelisks, tombstones, and props. Ancient Egypt technology also significantly contributes to modern shipbuilding, navigation, glass working, astronomy, and medicine. Through technology, various simple machines such as ramp and lever that facilitate the process of construction were developed. Indeed, some of the simple machines developed in Ancient Egypt technology form the fundamentals of modern engineering.

For example, ropes are important in modern engineering, especially in the construction of hanging bridges. However, Egyptians had discovered them in ancient times. Indeed, they deployed ropes in stiffening beams that are used in ships. Hence, as the paper argues, Ancient Egypt technology has an important role to play in shaping modern technology. One of such Ancient Egypt technologies is papyrus expertise. This paper reviews the technology with the objective of establishing a scholarly debate on how technology has shaped modern applications.

Papyri Technology

Ancient Egypt has a rich history of global technological developments. Early Egyptians led in discoveries in mathematics, architecture, language, and astronomy. Even though Ancient Egyptians relate closely to the Pharaoh era, the pyramids, and mummies, several inventions of these times apply in modern lives. Indeed, today, recordkeeping is an important aspect of people’s daily lives.

According to Parker, Ancient Egyptians were among the first people to spearhead the discovery of keeping records and writing.¹ In fact, according to Lawler, hieroglyphics constitute one of the earliest ways of writing that involved drawings that depicted a given storyline.² Hieroglyphics are one of the earliest writing artifacts of modern history. Egyptians would deploy them precisely to secure their proceedings and their territory. Writing requires a surface. Consequently, papyrus emerged as one of the earliest discoveries, which provided a durable writing surface.

Papyrus development had an implication for the development of various disciplines of study. For example, papers were developed from the knowledge of papyrus. After it was first developed, it fostered developments in literature, religion, science, and mathematics. In fact, today’s immense documentation of discoverers in science and mathematics is owed to the discovery of paper and its earliest forms such as papyrus.

Such documentation cannot occur without the possession of communication writing technology. In this context, Parker reveals, “One African culture–ancient Egypt or Kmt (pronounced keh-MET) is one of only a handful of cultures to have invented a unique form of written communication.”³ Hence, written communication heralded the development of papyrus technology. In fact, the key-MET culture has the privilege of having created the papyri technology, which transformed the written communication expertise.

Papyrus was an alternative to other writing surfaces such as rocks, stone tablets, or clay. When writing on these surfaces, techniques such as etching and chiseling were applied. The techniques also required hieroglyphics. Hence, hieroglyphics developed first before the development of papyrus technology. However, after the development of papyrus, the hieroglyphics proved incredible in contributing to the growth of the Egyptian empire, thus making it one of the superpowers in the ancient world.

The papyrus technology is a manifestation of paper that is used as a writing material today. Indeed, the word paper is coined from a Greek word that refers to the papyrus that was utilized as a writing material by Ancient Egyptians. To process the ancient writing material, the papyrus plant was beaten to form strips. The invention of the writing materials also underlined the invention of alphabet and decimal systems.⁴

In this context, Parker reckons, “Egyptian hieroglyphs, a phonetic writing system, served as the basis of Phoenician alphabet, from which later alphabets were derived.”⁵ This development, which had an impact on the development of a means of record keeping and writing, led to the development of an Egyptian version of the decimal system. One of the practical implications of the development of papyrus and the ability to write was the preservation of Ancient Egyptians’ literature, knowledge, and antique, although the fires on the City of Alexandria led to the destruction of such materials.

By the forth millennium, papyrus was already under production in Egypt. Archeologists first excavated the papyrus evidence in 2012. This substantiation was found on the shores of the Red Sea near the prehistoric Egypt. As Tallet affirms, the papyrus corresponded to the end of Khufu’s supremacy.⁶ The papyrus, which appeared in the form of rolls, provided vivid description of the final years of the construction of the Giza grand masonry structures.

Although papyrus was widely used in Egypt as a script material, it was later to face competition from parchment, a material that was derived from animal crust. Parchment sheets were folded to make quires. From these quires, cook-like codices were made. Early Christian writers first embraced the codices. They led to the adoption of the practice of using codex, which was made from papyrus rolls among the Graeco-Romans.

Codices comprised an immense progress of the papyrus material, which could not easily crease without breaking. Therefore, scrolls could not be formed and hence their limited applicability in high-volume texts. Nevertheless, this cheap writing material had the weakness of being easily destroyable by dampness and excessive drought. The quality of papyrus influenced the regularity of texts and the media that could be used on it. Could it hold any future?

In Europe, vellum and parchment products that could be produced locally easily and cheaply replaced the use of papyrus as the basic writing material. These materials had advantages such as their ability to serve for long, especially in humid climates. However, Parker asserts that it is certain that the material was used in a papal decree in 1057.⁷ In Egypt, papyrus was deployed as a writing material before the invention of another cheaper form, namely, the paper, from Arabs. Arabs learned about the pulped paper in China, which had been developed in105 C.E. Although paper and parchments were used in Byzantine empires in the 21^st-century, an option was available to use papyrus. However, in modern times, the single recognized papyrus materials are those that have lived through the prehistoric period.

Papyri Manufacturing and Usage

Papyrus writing materials in its ancient Egyptian form may find little application in today’s world. Hence, the only potential application may call for a change in the way papyrus was processed to make it compete with paper. Such room can only be made available after considering Ancient Egyptian approaches to its manufacturing. After such thoughtfulness, efforts can be made to add additives or any other component that may help to counter the underlying demerits of papyrus as discussed in the background section.

Much similar to the paper, papyrus is derived from a plant, Cyperus papyrus. After harvesting the plant, Ancient Egyptians removed the outer rind. They then proceeded to cut the interior pith along its length to form strips of approximately 40 cm or 16 inches. In the next step, Parker reveals how the ribbons are then positioned alongside each other on a solid plane with their ends somewhat overlying one another.”⁸ An additional sheet is positioned on top forming 90^o.

Although it remains quite unclear, Ancient Egyptians soaked papyrus strips in water until decomposition would begin with the objective of increasing adhesion. Parker further suggests that the two papyrus layers could have been glued.⁹ When they were wet, the sheets of papyrus were pulped to form one piece of paper. This process was followed by drying the sheet under high pressure.

Although the strips were 40 cm long, it was necessary to make longer rolls. Such rolls could have possibly been obtained by gluing short sheets together. In the last sheet that formed a roll, wooden stick was attached to guarantee easiness when handling the roll. Various sheets were joined when making long scrolls in a manner that the horizontal fibers were accurately parallel to the desired roll length. Primarily, wording would be done along the lines defined by the threads that run analogous to the rolls’ protracted ends. Secondarily, Ancient Egyptians would re-write on the roll across fibers.

From the discussion above, papyrus lasted longer before its disappearance as writing materials in the Egyptian world compared to Europe. This difference is attributable to Egypt’s dry climate. Therefore, it would last for extended time when compared to Europe, which has humid climatic conditions.

Despite papyrus being made of roughage material that is highly resistant to decomposition, fungus would develop in moist environments. This situation perhaps explains why library papyrus was normally stored inside wooden boxes. To reduce cracking, it was inappropriate to unroll papyrus scrolls. Consequently, scrolls were clearly marked using clay labels that indicated the content of each roll. Ancient Egyptians typically used theme or writer order to organize papyrus materials to enhance the readability their substance without spreading out the sheets.

Any writing material needs to last for long to ensure that the literature or knowledge that is transmitted through it is not lost. This raises an important question on whether any papyrus document exists today. This question depends on the region where such papyrus materials were used in preserving history, knowledge, and important literature. For example, in Europe, papyrus lasted only for few decades. Indeed, according to Leach and Tait, papyrus that lasted for 200 years was deemed extraordinary.¹⁰ In the case of Italy and Greece, papyrus was imported from Egypt. Today, such papyrus has been deteriorated to a state in which it cannot be repaired. Nevertheless, papyrus can be found in Egypt. As Parks reveals, good examples are Elephantine Papyri, Oxyrhynchus, villa of Papyri, and Nag Hammadi.¹¹

Considering the wide usage of papyrus in ancient Egypt, an important scholarly question is whether its manufacturing can be revived. Responding to this question requires a discussion of the outcome of the attempts that were made to revive papyrus manufacturing. Indeed, various periodic endeavors were made to revitalize the production of papyrus as early as 300 years ago. James Bruce, an explorer from Scotland, spearheaded one of such attempts.

Considering the historical value and attachment of Papyri to Egypt, such an attempt would have been made in Egypt. Unfortunately, this presumption was not the case as the plant was already extinct in the country. Bruce had only the option of experimenting with Papyrus from Sudan. In Syracuse, papyrus continued to grow as a wild plant by Mid-18^th-century. Sicilian Saverio took this advantage to manufacture papyrus similar to the one that was produced in Ancient Egypt.

In the early 1900s, Egyptologists such as Gunn Battiscombe cultivates papyrus in their backyards with the view of testing the material in the production of papyri writing sheets. He accomplished this role by beating the plant stalks between linen layers. He managed to produce examples of papyrus. According to Parkinson and Quirke, his work was exhibited in an Egyptian museum based in Cairo.¹² Later, in 1962, Hassan Ragad, an Egyptian engineer, would develop a technique for producing papyrus for tourist trading purposes. The papyrus plants used by Ragad had been re-introduced in the nation from France in 1872. Only few countries, including Egypt possessed some limited papyrus manufacturing bases. Can the industry be revived for mass-scale production? This question depends on the availability of adequate papyrus, including whether such materials would be competitive compared to the paper.

Papyrus is not adequately available now as it was during Ancient Egyptian times. However, communities that live close to swamps use it. Indeed, Tallet asserts that rural communities within where papyrus is found in abundance use it to generate 75% of their total income to manage their livelihoods.¹³ This situation is evident in Central and East Africa. In this region, people harvest the plant for use in manufacturing items for both local applications and a business venture. Papyrus may be deployed in fencing and the making of ceilings, chains, and house covers. Despite eucalyptus replacing the use of papyrus as a source of fuel, some communities use it in heating and cooking. Hence, although papyrus may now not constitute a commercial viable material for manufacturing paper in modern Egypt, it has other significant values to rural communities.

Conclusion

Ancient Egypt technology refers to devices and expertise that were developed in prehistoric Egypt. The paper focused on discussing the papyri technology as one of the inventions of Ancient Egypt. The technology formed alternative writing surfaces. The difficulties that were encountered when writing on rocks by chiseling or etching clay were eliminated since papyrus required only the use of dies to write on it. The paper has argued that although papyrus technology was replaced by the pulped paper expertise when Arabs introduced it in Egypt around 105 BCE, the technology was an important part of Egyptian innovation that led to the development of various bodies of knowledge, including astronomy, mathematics, language, and science.

Through papyrus Ancient Egypt developed the capability of recordkeeping. Amid the attractiveness of papyrus to Ancient Egypt in other places where it was exported after mass production in Egypt, including Europe and Greece, the technology presents various demerits. The material deteriorated faster in humid climates compared to dry regions such as Egypt. This situation had the implication of making documents written on papyrus last for shorter times. Hence, in modern day, limited archeological evidence of papyrus in Europe exists. Nevertheless, Egypt remains to be a country that has a rich history of papyrus, although the plant has now become extinct.

Works Cited

Lawler, Chris. “Writing Gets a Rewrite.” Science 29.2(2001): 2418-2420. Print.

Leach, Bridget, and William Tait. Papyrus: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.

Parker, Richard. “Egyptian Astronomy, Astrology, and Calendrical Reckoning”. Dictionary of Scientific Biography 15.3(2006): 706–727. Print.

Parkinson, Richard, and Stephen Quirke. Papyrus Egyptian Bookshelf, London: British Museum Press, 1995. Print.

Parks, Clinton. Ancestors of Science: Papyrus Paper Technology, 2005. Web.

Tallet, Pierre. “Ayn Sukhna and Wadiel-Jarf: Two discovered Pharaonic harbors on Suez Gulf.” British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 18.3(2012):147–168. Print.

Footnotes

Richard Parker, “Egyptian Astronomy, Astrology, and Calendrical Reckoning,” Dictionary of Scientific Biography 15.3(2006): 706.
Chris Lawler, “Writing Gets a Rewrite,” Science 29.2(2001): 2418.
Parker, 714.
Lawler, 2819.
Parker, 714.
Pierre Tallet, “Ayn Sukhna and Wadiel-Jarf: Two discovered Pharaonic harbors on Suez Gulf,” British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 18.3(2012):153.
Parker, 706.
Ibid, 707.
Ibid, 709.
Bridget Leach, and William Tait, Papyrus: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 107.
Clinton Parks, Ancestors of Science: Papyrus Paper Technology, 2005, Web.
Richard Parkinson and Stephen Quirke, Papyrus Egyptian Bookshelf, London: British Museum Press, 1995, 55.
Tallet, 149.

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