Ancient Egyptians 'Tipp-Exed' Errors in Sacred Texts

Before and after use of correction fluid on jackal god Wepwawet, in the Book of the Dead

March

/ 2026

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It appears that even the most skilled scribes of ancient Egypt made mistakes. A recent discovery at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge has revealed that ancient Egyptian artisans used a correction fluid - much like a modern-day 'Tipp-Ex' - to fix errors in sacred texts. The finding, made while preparing one of the best-preserved Egyptian scrolls for public display, sheds new light on the meticulous standards to which these craftspeople were held, and the sophisticated techniques they developed to meet them.

The vignette of Spell 117, showing the papyrus owner Ramose with the jackal god Wepwawet. The white correction fluid can be seen on either side of the jackal’s body and on the front of the thighs of its back legs. (© The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge)

A Divine Touch-Up

The discovery came about during the preparation for the Made in Ancient Egypt exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, which runs until 12 April 2026. Staff noticed a thick, white pigment applied along both sides of a jackal figure painted on the Book of the Dead of Ramose, a 3,300-year-old papyrus scroll. The scroll was created for Ramose, a supervisor of royal archives, between 1290 and 1278 BC, and is a funerary text intended to guide the deceased through the underworld. The jackal — believed to be the god Wepwawet, the "opener of the ways" who guided both armies and the dead through Duat — had apparently been painted too plump for someone's liking. "Paint was used to alter the outline of the black figure, making it slimmer," the researchers noted. It seems that even in the afterlife, appearances mattered.

The Science Behind the Correction

To identify the composition of this ancient 'Tipp-Ex', researchers employed a range of analytical techniques, including infrared reflectography, x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, and 3D digital microscopy. Helen Strudwick, senior Egyptologist at the Fitzwilliam and curator of the exhibition, explained the findings, saying: "The results indicate that it is a mixture of huntite and calcite."

Crucially, the white paint used for Ramose's robe in the same illustration was made only of huntite, suggesting a deliberate choice of materials for the correction itself. Flecks of orpiment - a yellow pigment and ore of arsenic - were also detected in the correction fluid, likely added to help it blend with the original pale cream color of fresh papyrus.

"It's as if someone saw the original way the jackal was painted and said 'It's too fat - make it thinner', so the artist has made a kind of ancient Egyptian Tipp-Ex to fix it," Strudwick noted.

The corrective fluid analyzed using light infrared photography. (© The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge)

A Widespread Practice?

This discovery is far from an isolated incident. Strudwick has since identified similar correction techniques on other ancient Egyptian manuscripts, including the Book of the Dead of Nakht at the British Museum and the Yuya papyrus at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

"When I've pointed it out to curators, they've been astonished," she said. "It's the kind of thing you don't notice at first."

The use of this correction fluid across multiple important texts suggests it was a standard practice in scribal workshops, where a senior artist or overseer might review and amend the work of others. A separate academic study published in 2026 by Mohamed S. Hefny of Cairo University examined the broader range of methods used by ancient Egyptian scribes to correct mistakes in religious manuscripts, noting that scribes sometimes changed the shape of incorrect signs, used red ink to mark errors, or in the Ptolemaic period, placed brackets or dots around incorrect words without deleting them.

The Legacy of the Scribes

The meticulous nature of the ancient Egyptian scribes is well-documented, and this discovery adds a vivid new dimension to our understanding of their craft. The original scroll, made from numerous joined sheets of papyrus, is thought to have been approximately 20 meters long. Discovered in 1922 by archaeologist William Flinders Petrie in a tomb at Sedment, Egypt, it arrived at the Fitzwilliam in hundreds of fragments and required painstaking reassembly. Having been stored away from damaging light for most of the past century, the document remains in remarkably good condition.

The Book of the Dead of Ramose, reassembled from hundreds of fragments. (The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge)

The ability to correct mistakes, rather than starting over on such a costly and elaborate document, would have saved considerable time and resources. It also speaks to the profound importance of the Book of the Dead itself — a vital guide for the journey to the afterlife — and the absolute necessity of ensuring its accuracy and aesthetic perfection. The use of a sophisticated correction fluid is a testament to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of these ancient craftspeople, who were, without question, masters of their materials.

Top image: The vignette of Spell 117, showing the papyrus owner Ramose with the jackal god Wepwawet. The white correction fluid can be seen on either side of the jackal's body and on the front of the thighs of its back legs. Source: © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge / The Art Newspaper

By Gary Manners