This article builds on the notions of thick and thin description elaborated by Geertz and looks at what descriptive methods have been used in the field of papyrology, a sub-discipline of classics that studies ancient manuscripts on papyrus fragments recovered through legal and illegal excavations in Egypt from the 19th century. Past generations of papyrologists have described papyri merely as resources to retrieve ancient ‘texts’. In the article I argue these descriptions have had negative effects in the way this ancient material has been studied, preserved, and also exchanged through the antiquities market. Through a series of case studies, I offer an alternative description of papyrus fragments as things, which have a power that can be activated under specific circumstances or entanglements. In demonstrating papyrus manuscripts’ unstable nature and shifting meanings, which are contingent on such entanglements, the article calls for a new politics and ethics concerning their preservation and exchange.

本文以盖尔兹（Geertz）详尽描述的概念为基础，并探讨了纸莎草学领域使用的描述方法，纸莎草学是经典的子学科，研究埃及通过合法和非法发掘而获得的纸莎草碎片的古代手稿。从19世纪开始。纸巾学家的后几代人将纸莎草描述为仅是检索古代“文本”的资源。在本文中，我认为这些描述对这种古老材料的研究，保存和通过古物市场交换的方式产生了负面影响。通过一系列案例研究，我提供了纸莎草碎片作为事物的另一种描述，其具有可以在特定情况下或纠缠中激活的功能。