‘The Graz Mummy Book’ (UBG Ms I 1946)

This article summarizes the main arguments discussed at a meeting held at Graz University Library, Austria, in February 2024 where a team of experts met to discuss papyrus fragment UBG Ms I 1946, also known as ‘The Graz Mummy Book’. This fragment, which had been recycled as mummy cartonnage in the Ptolemaic period, displays features of a bifolio with a central fold and text written on either side. It also has holes and a thread fragment which indicate that the document was folded upon itself and secured with tackets. Another pair of holes, named X and Y, is positioned at equal distance from the central fold and was pierced from the opposite direction to the tacket holes. Along with the bifolio features, the Graz team interpreted these holes as evidence for a stab sewing, which would make the fragment the earliest surviving remains of a codex, predating other known examples by at least four hundred years. Because this interpretation was contested, the meeting in Graz was convened to facilitate open discussion about the nature of the fragment. The meeting focused on examining the individual features of the document, with particular attention to the holes, and their possible interpretations. Gaps in the understanding of Ptolemaic cartonnage-making practices were identified and scientific analysis and comparison were suggested as methods for further investigation of the fragment.