A squeeze or squeeze paper is a reverse copy of an inscription, made by applying moist filter paper and pushing into the indentations by percussive use of a stiff brush. The paper is allowed to dry and then removed. The image is reversed from the inscription, and protrudes from the squeeze paper.
The use of a squeeze allows more information to be gleaned than examining the original inscription, for example curves inside the cuts can identify the scribe who originally carved the inscription.1
Squeezes can also (and some have been since the 1950s) be made by applying layers of liquid latex. This method works best on horizontal surfaces.1
Modern digitising methods mean that the image can be restored to its original orientation.
Large collections of squeezes are held by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities2 and other epigraphic collections.
References
References
- Taking Inscriptions Home University of Reading, Ure Museum
- (i) Archive of the Academies project Inscriptiones Graecae project (ca. 120,000), (i) the Lepsius archive and Berlin Dictionary project archive at the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae project, https://www.bbaw.de/en/research/vocabulary-of-the-egyptian-language, https://aaew.bbaw.de; see https://aaew.bbaw.de/archive/lepsius-archiv/papierabdruecke (ca. 30,000), (iii) Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum project (ca. 20,000).
External links
External links
- Squeeze making at the Smithsonian Institution (Archived here)
- Squeeze Making in the Athenian Agora
- Video showing how squeezes are made: "Wissens | Räume – Antikenforschung in Berlin", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFOsb7QRM2A (last accessed: March 1, 2026).