4 ms·
Surely there's some order in this "reading list" where new discoveries can take priority based on circumstantial factors of the digging site alone.
by arketyp 8y ago
Surely there's some order in this "reading list" where new discoveries can take priority based on circumstantial factors of the digging site alone.
- olavk 8y agoTo some extent, but take a find like the Oxyrhynchus Papyri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyrhynchus_Papyri https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyrhynchus_Papyri - it is basically a giant trash heap of unorganized papyrus fragments. It was discovered in 1896 and it still being cataloged! Most of it is uninteresting, but some amazing finds like a previously unknown play by Sophocles. To quote Wikipedia: Since 1898 academics have puzzled together and transcribed over 5000 documents from what were originally hundreds of boxes of papyrus fragments the size of large cornflakes. This is thought to represent only 1 to 2 percent of what is estimated to be at least half a million papyri still remaining to be conserved, transcribed, deciphered and catalogued. And that is just one find.