The ancient Egyptians used an aquatic plant that grew on the Nile as the first known paper. This plant, called papyrus, had stems from 1 to 3 meters high.
These papyrus stems were cut into long strips and placed side by side. Other bands were placed at right angles to the top of the first ones, and the two layers were glued with a wheat flour paste or with the Nile mud.
The already glued layers of papyrus were hammered or pressed into flat rectangles and then left to dry in the sun. The finished "paper" was a kind of white fabric, which was rolled up or tied with a piece of cloth. The way to write on the papyrus was with a brush and paintings.
For thousands of years, the ancient Egyptians kept secret their method of making paper from the rest of the world. It was not until the Chinese developed their own method of making paper from the bark of trees in 105 A.D. that the Egyptian method became known.
.
