Are papyrologists ever done with a papyrus text?

Editing papyrus documents is a never-ending effort.  The incomplete and damaged state of many papyri leaves ample room for large or small mistakes in the process of reading the texts.  Words can be misread, sentences can be misunderstood, interpretations can be wrong.  These mistakes may be uncovered by future generations of colleagues, as new texts are published that shed light on old texts. 

Original Papyrus

This papyrus document contains a census declaration.  Peteuris, son of Horos, an inhabitant of the village of Bacchias, registers the members of his household for the Roman census that was held every fourteen years.  From the text it appears that Peteuris is living in a house with his wife and two brothers (aged 20 and 7).

P.Mich.inv. 104 (P.Mich. III 176)

Modern Marginalia

This book, which belonged to Herbert Youtie (1904-1980), contains the first edition of the papyrus document shown here (P.Mich. 176).  The pen and pencil marks in the book show that Youtie made several corrections as he looked at the papyrus again.  He later published these corrections in papyrological journals, so that they became a part of the scholarly record.

P.Mich. III (Herbert Youtie Collection)