Iliad fragment found in Roman-era mummy

In case anyone doesn't know, Oxyrhynchus is a major source of archaeological discoveries. Particularly ancient (Ptolemaic/Roman Egypt) papyrus fragments recovered from an ancient landfill on the outskirts of the city. Notably some of the earliest-known Christian textual artefacts were found there (the actual earliest fragments came from elsewhere in Egypt). It turns out that Egypt's hot and dry climate provides the perfect environment for their long-term preservation.

Sadly, the article says nothing about how old the fragment is or how it compares to other early copies of the Iliad. Somewhat amazingly, the earliest complete copy of the Iliad is from around 950 C.E.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetus_A

I Hope more and more fragments of anything lost is found.

The burn down of Alexandria library was a pity

for some reason this read like the "Headless Body in a Topless Bar" headline...maybe the antiquities equivalent

So why would they bury a man with a book?

Imagine digging in that material. Tunnelling that out would be awful.