The Early Origins of Paper - For centuries all around the world paper has been the most common form of writing material. It has a long and rich history, the origins of which can be found thousands of years in the past. Originally writing was carved into stone or wet clay tablets, a method that was likely time consuming and hard work.
A new material was needed and was found in Ancient Egypt. Around 3,000 BC the Egyptians used the Cyperus Papyrus plant for almost everything, including boats, sandals, baskets and mats. They are also credited as the first people to turn the plant into a writing material called papyrus.
The plant grows abundantly around the river Nile and the Egyptians would cut the long stalks and soak them in water until they were soft. Then they laid the stalks out on top of each other and squashed them flat. Once the squashed together stalks have dried the resulting product is a writing material that is similar to paper.
By 1000 BC many other countries were also using papyrus as a writing material. In most cases countries were forced to buy papyrus from the Egyptians rather than produce it themselves because the papyrus plant mainly grew in Egypt. Countries in West Asia bought papyrus and the Ancient Greeks and Romans were also big buyers of papyrus - which did not come cheap.
Though papyrus was popular as a writing material, many other forms such as using pieces of pottery and wax tablets persisted, because the price of papyrus was so high. A turning point came in 150 BC when the Pharaoh Ptolemy of Egypt refused to sell any more papyrus to King Eumenes of Pergamon (found in West Asia). The legend behind this reasoning was that Ptolemy was worried that Eumenes library was going to surpass his own.
It is more likely that prices of papyrus had increased hugely due to the fact that the plant was being over-harvested to meet demand. Either way as a result Eumenes was forced to find an alternative to papyrus - this alternative was parchment.
Writing on animal skins was not uncommon at this time, but was developed into parchment under Eumenes rule in Pergamon. The name 'parchment' derives from the city of Pergamon itself, known as pergamenum in Latin and parchemin in French. Parchment was made from animal skins that were limed and dried under tension usually on a wooden frame called a 'stretching frame'.
The skins of sheep and cows were often used - the hair was scraped off and the skin was soaked in water with flour or salt added to achieve a smooth surface. The skin was then soaked in tannin to preserve it. Finer quality parchment is often called 'vellum' with the name coming from the Latin word 'vitulinum' meaning 'made from calf'.
Though parchment was an alternative to papyrus, it was just as expensive if not more. Both parchment and papyrus fell somewhat out of favour when the Chinese produced a writing material that is close to the paper we use today.
A court official of the Han Dynasty called Ts'ai Lun (or Cai Lun) developed paper making in around 105 AD. His paper was made by mixing mulberry bark and hemp rags with water, then much like in the production of papyrus, rolling it flat and drying it in the sun.
The Chinese were particularly secretive about their methods and the paper making process took centuries to disperse throughout the world. Many European countries continued to use parchment and vellum for centuries because the method of making paper had not yet reached them.
The paper making technique spread across the Islamic world but only really reached most European countries after the 13th century when the Christians conquered Islamic Spain and learnt the process.
Though Cai Lun refined the pulp paper making process he did not invent paper. There is archaeological evidence that the Chinese military were using a form of paper over a hundred years before Cai Lun. A type of paper was found at Fangmatan in the Gansu province of China that dates from between 179BC to 41BC.
Cai Lun did however develop the paper making process that made paper a writing material worldwide, like we have today. It is likely that Cai Lun advanced the process from the production of bark-cloth. The refining of the paper making process meant that there was a cheaper and lighter alternative to parchment and papyrus.
Though writing materials that were similar to paper were developed in Egypt and West Asia, the writing material that is closest to the paper we have today was defined and developed in China and eventually spread to the rest of the world.