Sesso: M
The Khufu papyrus archive on show
at the Egyptian Museum shows the
highly efficient administrative system
in place during the pharaoh’s reign.
A collection of three dozen fragments of
papyri has been put on display for the
first time in a special exhibition in
the foyer of the Egyptian Museum in
Tahrir Square in Cairo after their
discovery in 2013 in the entrance to two
caves at Wadi Al-Jarf 119 km from
Suez by a Franco-Egyptian mission
led by French Egyptologist Pierre Tallet
and Egyptian Egyptologist
Al-Sayed Mahfouz, writes Nevine El-Aref.
Mahfouz described the discovery of
the papyri as “very important” because
they show the history of international
maritime navigation in Egypt and
of ancient Egyptian writing during the
Old Kingdom. The papyri are written
in early hieratic writing and hieroglyphics.
Wadi Al-Jarf is one of the oldest
ports discovered anywhere in the
world, though two others, Wadi Gawasis
south of Safaga and Ain Sokhna south
of Suez, are of similar structure and
have also been discovered on the
Red Sea coast dating from
the later Middle Kingdom. The
papyri make up “the oldest archive
of ancient Egyptian writing ever
discovered,” Mahfouz told the
Al-Ahram Weekly, explaining that
that they were older than the
Al-Gebelein papyri dating to the
end of the Fourth Dynasty and the
Abusir papyri dating to the end
of the fifth.
“We know from these papyri that
the reign of Khufu was 26 years long
and not 16 or 20 as had previously
been thought,” he said. He added
that the papyri contained
documents recording the
commodities delivered to workers
in Wadi Al-Jarf in antiquity. These
came from various places in the
Nile Delta, confirming central control
over the country’s affairs at the time.
The text of the papyri is in the form
of a table showing each category
of commodity and registering what
should be given to workers. Black
characters show what has been
delivered by the administration, and
red is used to indicate what is still
expected.
Among the papyri are two fragments
of a large papyrus measuring 1.5 to 2m
long known as the “Log of Merer”
and showing the daily lives of
workers at Wadi Al-Jarf. Mahfouz
said that Merer, whose name means
“beloved one,” was a middle-ranking
official in charge of skilled workers
and sailors, probably numbering
around 40 men, at the time.
These used to transport limestone
blocks from the Torah quarries
on the east bank of the Nile to
the Pyramid of Khufu at Giza.
The blocks were moved across
the Nile and by canal in two or
three days. The document indicates
that there was also a logistics
centre called Ro-She Khufu where
most of the procedures were
carried out. This was under the
authority of vizier Ankh-Haef, a
half-brother of Khufu, who was
probably the architect responsible
for the construction of the Great
Pyramid in its final stages as
the original architect, Hemiunu,
died during the construction work.
“This papyrus in particular is a
very important discovery because
it gives details of the administrators
who directed the construction work
on the Great Pyramid and the
strong administrative regime
during Khufu’s reign,” Mahfouz
said, adding that it also showed
that the Pyramid’s construction
was a national project. A collection
of ropes, the remains of boats,
and anchors was also discovered.
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