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.

After using it for decades as a catalog, the papyrus was later ... sold as pulp paper.

This papyrus is returning the most ancient geographic map of the classical world and helps write new pages of ancient history.

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.

The bias is on the upside; the bias is on the tightening side; it is not on the loosening side.