During the severe paper shortage in mid-19th century Europe, printers, desperate to keep their presses rolling, sometimes turned to an unexpectedly "exotic waste" material to recycle into new paper. What was this bizarre source?

Historians and papermaking experts confirm this bizarre "mummy paper" chapter. For instance, historian William L. Bird Jr. details this phenomenon in his work "Pulp and Paper Industry in the South," particularly during the American Civil War when cotton supplies were cut off. Many paper mills then turned to alternative materials, including imported mummy wrappings from Egypt. Can you imagine reading a newspaper and potentially touching the remains of an ancient Egyptian from millennia ago? Gross, but surprisingly resourceful!