British researchers have developed a scanning technique that allows them to read records made on scraps of papyrus that were used in the burial of mummies.
In Daytime Egypt, a swaddled mummy was first placed in a kind of box made of sheets of papyrus and pieces of cloth, and then placed in a sarcophagus and then in a tomb.
The deceased from among the nobility and the rich were often wrapped in confessions, wills and other important documents written by themselves.
The sarcophagi of the poor most often included scraps of papyri that were part of everyday life, such as shopping lists or tax notices.
According to scientists from University College London, new technologies developed by them together with colleagues from Manchester will allow a glimpse into the daily life of ancient Egypt.
The writings still found in abundance on the sarcophagi and the walls of the tombs of the pharaohs give an idea of the life of the upper classes of the ancient Egyptians. According to scientists, these records were a kind of propaganda of that time, so we know about those in power mainly what they wanted to convey to their descendants.
Now, thanks to the new scanning system, historians will be able to read very curious documents and thus look into the everyday life of ordinary people. The technology lies in the fact that with the help of different frequency and intensity of light exposure, the ink used to write documents begins to glow.
In particular, the mummy of a man, kept in Chiddingstone Castle in Kent, found a second life. Scraps of papyrus used to make his burial cocoon allowed scientists to find out his real name and establish that the remains were mummified in the period from 664 BC. until 30 A. D.
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On a piece of papyrus, located at the bottom of the mummy, the name of the deceased is read - Irethorru, which means "Horus's eye is turned on my enemies."
“Since papyrus waste was used in the manufacture of such prestigious items [such as masks and sarcophagi], great attention was paid to their long-term preservation,” says the project's scientific director, Professor Adam Gibson.
“These masks are one of the best repositories of secondary papyrus documents, which, if not for such use, would simply be thrown away, and they contain so much information about these people, about their lives,” the scientist continues.
Most often, the records are hidden under a layer of special paste and other materials used in the manufacture of sarcophagi. The only way to read what has been written so far has been to destroy the layers covering the papyri.
Historians were faced with a dilemma: get to the records and learn more about the life of the ancient Egyptians, or save the work of the masters who participated in the mummification and burial of the body.
“I am horrified when I see priceless artifacts being destroyed to access the text. It is a crime. The number of such items is limited, and now we have the technology that allows both to preserve this beauty, and to read documentary records made by the ancient Egyptians themselves about their lives, about what was important to them, says Catherine Piquet, an Egyptologist from University College London. …
