How Did Pencils Originate?

Mon, 26 Mar 2001 03:45:40 +0000

Not many people know that the pencil they use everyday can trace its history back 2000 years! Early writers, or scribes as they were called, of ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece wrote on forms of paper called papyrus.

They used a stylus which was a metal rod made of lead. That is why we still call the black core of the pencil as “lead” even though it is made from graphite!

Graphite was discovered sometime in the 16th century in England. Legend has it that people found bits of shiny, black graphite clinging to the roots of a fallen tree. The whole countryside was abuzz with talk about this mysterious mineral, which soon came to be known as “plumbago” or, more commonly, “Blacklead.”

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How Did Pencils Originate?