Ancient History Unfolded

—This is a guest post by Gwenanne Edwards, a conservator in the Conservation Division. It will appear in the January-February issue of the Library of Congress Magazine.

The majority of Library’s physical collections are, as you might think, on paper. But before paper was invented in China and introduced globally, papyrus dominated as the writing surface of the Mediterranean world. Made from a freshwater sedge found in the Egyptian Nile valley, papyrus was used as a writing surface as early as 3000 B.C. The earliest text on papyrus at the Library is from around 2000 B.C., held in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.

A recent Library workshop focused on the conservation treatment of papyrus texts from the African and Middle Eastern Division.

These texts, which come from Egypt and date from the 7th to 11th centuries A.D., are written primarily in Arabic with a few in Greek and Coptic. They were recovered from a midden (a refuse heap) in Fustat, an area now part of Cairo.

The texts are administrative, documenting practical or legal accounts — decrees, contracts and other records. Because of their condition prior to conservation, the contents of most of the papyri have not yet been fully studied. Before conservation, many of the Fustat papyri were fragmentary, covered in dirt and debris and crumpled and folded with fibers askew, obscuring the text.

Conservators cleaned and stabilized the papyri by unfolding and aligning fibers and fragments and reattaching delaminating fibers and loose or detached fragments. Papyrus becomes extremely fragile and brittle over time, so conservators introduced humidity to make the papyri more flexible, allowing fibers to be unfolded and aligned safely.

After conservation, the papyri will be digitized so that they can be studied by researchers.

Conservation of the Fustat papyri is meticulous work, with immense rewards. By removing debris and opening creases and folds, conservators reveal previously obscured text. Fragmentary as they are, these texts give us glimpses into social, economic and political history, adding to our knowledge and understanding of late antiquity and the post-ancient world.

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