Canadians help uncover ancient papyrus scrolls

Canadian archeologists have unearthed a remarkable discovery in Egypt's Western Desert, digging up close to 2,000 papyrus scrolls in fairly good shape.

It's being called the most important papyrus find from the Roman and Greek periods in decades.

Gaballah Ali Gaballah, Egypt's chief archeologist, says the scrolls could shed some light on the origins of early Christianity. Some of the scrolls appear to have been created by Manichaeims, the followers of a Mesopotamian prophet known as Mani.

The Royal Ontario Museum has been operating the Dakhleh Oasis Project in the Western Desert of Egypt since 1978. The project is described as multidisciplinary, and includes an examination of relationship between environmental change and human activity.