History of Text Technologies

The Papyrus Fragments collection (MSS 2015-008) consists of twenty-six fragments of papyrus with Greek text. Sixteen fragments are known to be orders to bankers to pay out various sums. Some fragments are too small to make sense of but all seem to be orders to a banker to pay a sum to a third person and are essentially an early form of checks or banknotes. Some of the papyri are cut from larger pieces that were previously written on. Some have writing on the back but none date later than the main writing and none are in good enough condition to read.
Dates: 84-87 BCE
Language: Ancient Greek
Geographic source: A note with the texts stated that they came from mummy cartonnage (plastered layers of papyrus) found at Abusir el-Melek.

Palm leaf manuscript with text in unidentified South Asian script, provenance unknown. Two drilled holes in center for rope to hold multiple leaves together.

A facsimile of the Paris Codex, one of four surviving pre-Columbian Maya books. The codex is accordion folded and consists of amate bark paper.

A facsimile of the Madrid Codex, the longest of the surviving Maya codices. The Codex was made from a long strip of amate paper that was folded up accordion-style. This paper was then coated with a thin layer of fine stucco, which was used as the painting surface.

Collection of handmade paper samples from different plant fibers.