How the Ancient Egyptians Made Papyrus Paper

Ancient Egyptians made papyrus paper using the versatile Cyprus papyrus plant. This plant grew in marshy areas. Making papyrus paper was not their only use of the papyrus plant. They used the papyrus plant to manufacture baskets, boats, sandals and tables. The papyrus plant was also a source of food for the common people. However, the most important use of the Cyprus papyrus was for the production of papyrus paper. Now you are going to see how this ancient civilization made papyrus paper; it is an incredibly fascinating process.

The first step involved is to harvest the Cyprus papyrus plant. Once the papyrus plant has been cut or uprooted, the greenish outside skin of the papyrus plant is carefully peeled away and the inner yellowish pith is sliced into long and relatively thin strips. The sliced pith is what will be kept and used throughout the paper making process. The green outside skin is then discarded.

Now the strips of pith from the Cyprus papyrus will be pounded. When the pounding is complete the sliced papyrus is immersed into water and soaked for approximately three days. This will remove a fraction of the sugar content and make the fibers pliable, and transparent. When the soaking is finished, the papyrus is removed from the water. The papyrus is quite spongy and rather delicate. The papyrus is then rolled flat, and is left to dry for a while before it is cut to the desired shape. After being cut to the desired shape, the papyrus is pounded and the excess water is drained away.

Now, half of the strips of papyrus pith are laid side by side overlapping only about one millimeter. The second half of papyrus pith is placed at right angles and on top of the first layer, again overlapping about a millimeter. Once more the raw papyrus sheet is pounded, and left underneath a heavy weight, usually a stone slab to dry for approximately six days. The sugar still within the papyrus acts like glue and seals the strips together. After the six days, the papyrus should be completely dry. For a nice and smooth finish, the sheet of papyrus is rubbed and polished with something like a shell, or a piece of smooth ivory. Now the fresh papyrus paper is ready to be used.

There was no substitution for papyrus paper; nothing was as durable and as lightweight as the papyrus paper. The Arabs developed a type of paper called pulped paper. Although it was not as durable, it was far easier to produce. This led to a decline not only in papyrus paper manufacturing, but also to a decline in Cyprus papyrus cultivation. Eventually, Cyprus papyrus disappeared from the area of the Nile. Papyrus production was not revived until about 1996, when Egyptian scientist Dr. Ragab brought the Cyprus papyrus plant back to Egypt.
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