Palimpsest, Papyrus. Egyptologist

At first, Professor Barry Kemp had little interest in Akhenaten. But in the end he was writing books on the pharoah and leaping among the rock tombs with true enthusiasm. Our obituary of the Egyptologist https://econ.st/3yVkbti

Photo: BBC

Papyrus was an integral feature of the ancient Nilotic landscape, and it was essential to ancient Egyptians in both practical and symbolic realms.
Explore its many uses and meanings on the #MetTimeline → met.org/3sfWiE5
Unknown ancient Egyptian maker. Book of the Dead for the Chantress of Amun, Nany, ca. 1050 B.C. Papyrus, paint.





palimpsest (păl'ĭmp-sĕst')

n. A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible.
An object, place, or area that reflects its history: “Spaniards in the sixteenth century . . . saw an ocean moving south . . . through a palimpsest of bayous and distributary streams in forested paludal basins” (John McPhee).[Latin palimpsēstum, from Greek palimpsēston, neuter of palimpsēstos, scraped again : palin, again + psēn, to scrape.]