Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Excavators at Oxyrhynchus found tax receipts, letters and lost literature. The figure is taken from University of Oxford, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a history fact?

Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Papyri survived in an Egyptian rubbish dump

Excavators at Oxyrhynchus found tax receipts, letters and lost literature From 1896, Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt dug at the town of Oxyrhynchus, south of Cairo, where dry sand had preserved papyrus discarded for centuries. The finds included fragments of lost plays, early Christian texts and ordinary contracts. Most pieces are tiny, and scholars are still sorting and translating them. It sits in Mondo's history collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

University of Oxford

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The Great Pyramid of Giza was built for Pharaoh KhufuOver two million limestone blocks were assembled to form the tallest structure for millennia Howard Carter discovered the intact tomb of TutankhamunBritish archaeologist uncovered thousands of golden artifacts in Egypt in 1922 The Rosetta Stone unlocked ancient Egyptian hieroglyphsA decree carved in three scripts enabled scholars to decipher Egyptian writing The Suez Canal opened connecting the Mediterranean to the Red SeaFerdinand de Lesseps completed the artificial maritime shortcut in 1869 Kushite kings ruled Egypt as its twenty-fifth dynastyRulers from the Nile's southern reaches governed both lands for roughly a century Kadesh treaty is the earliest surviving peace agreementEgypt and the Hittites sealed their agreement in writing around 1259 BCE

Tags: papyri, egypt, archaeology

Papyri survived in an Egyptian rubbish dump: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Excavators at Oxyrhynchus found tax receipts, letters and lost literature. The figure is taken from University of Oxford, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?: Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.