World culture: A valuable Ancient Egyptian text discovered in Australia

The fragments of a ritual burial papyrus of one of the most famous Egyptian architects, Amenhotep, son of Hapu, have been found at a Queensland museum, Australia. The belonging of the parts of the scroll was accidentally defined by Egyptologist John Taylor.

The documents, which have drawn the attention of the Egyptologist, were exposed as part of a visiting exhibition of mummies of the British Museum. Before that, they were held in the storerooms of the museum. Taylor, who came as a representative of the British Museum to accompany the exhibition, discovered that the documents are part of the Book of the Dead (ritual burial papyrus, which was placed in the tomb of the deceased) of one of the most famous ancient Egyptian architects.

Disparate parts of Amenhotep’s book are held by various museums around the world - the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the British Museum. The existence of these fragments in the Queensland Museum collection until now was unknown.

The fragments were donated to the museum by an individual in 1913 and are part of the roll about 20 meters long - one of the longest, as scientists say. Taylor explained that in 1890s, many individuals came to Egypt and bought artifacts, much of which have not yet been documented.

Scientists plan to digitize the newly discovered parts of the papyrus, and find their place in the scroll.