Some of these papyri were rescued from great heaps of papyrus ​ — essentially wastepaper dumps — ​ that lay undiscovered for centuries in the Egyptian desert.
बिटीने धार्मिक आणि लौकिक अशा दोन्ही प्रकारचे पुष्कळ पपायरस हस्तलेख देखील गोळा केले.