After using it for decades as a catalog, the papyrus was later ... sold as pulp paper. |
At some point, somebody wet it. Where there are holes, the ink was stamped upside down on the other side of the parchment. |
However, it wasn't burnt, neither sold as pulp paper. A few years later, its blank spots were re-used for other sketches. |
One might wonder how a single papyrus can conceal such a big treasure. Well, it was used at different times, for different purposes, and by different people. |
This papyrus is returning the most ancient geographic map of the classical world and helps write new pages of ancient history. |