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Note that the fragments from mummy cartonnages and book bindings mentioned in the article are known to be fake. See here for some context: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/museum-...

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The fragments may or may not be fake (consensus seems to be that the poem is probably genuine), but the provenance was certainly covered up. See https://eidolon.pub/the-murky-provenance-of-the-newest-sapph.... It's all quite scandalous and is connected to the theft and sale of biblical papyri to the Museum of the Bible. See also https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/jan/09/a-scandal-in-ox... and https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/apr/16/oxford-profe...

Yes, the guardian article is great.

I went down that rabbit hole a while ago and I found convincing arguments that the Sappho poems were fakes (though the Bible fragments are genuine but stolen). I can’t find the source again. I thought the Atlantic article explained it, but they stop at the Turk who provided them to Obbink. So I’ll settle for “likely forgeries”.

Thanks for posting that link, it's an interesting story in itself.

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