How was papyrus invented?

Papyrus / p ə ˈ p aɪ r ə s / is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge. read more

Papyrus was produced as early as 3000 BCE in Egypt, and in ancient Greece and Rome. Further north, parchment or vellum, made of processed sheepskin or calfskin, replaced papyrus, as the papyrus plant requires subtropical conditions to grow. read more

For a while, papyrus actually disappeared from the Egyptian landscape after the invention of paper. The Egyptian placed an embargo on exporting papyrus at the end of the 7th century AD led the way to parchment, and later on to 'modern' paper, the successor to the papyrus. read more