Papyrus
Reed pith beaten into sheets gives the world a light, portable writing surface.
- When
- Known to
- ± 200 years
- Era
- Bronze Age, Holocene
Papyrus is manufactured in Egypt from the third millennium BCE by laying strips of the plant's pith in crossed layers and pressing them into a sheet. It is far lighter than clay and can be rolled, which makes documents transportable and archives compact. It also decays in damp conditions, which is why Egyptian records survive and Mesopotamian clay survives while the papyrus of wetter regions is almost entirely lost.