The World's Oldest Papyrus and What It Can Tell Us About the Great Pyramids

Smithsonian ^ | Monday, September 28, 2015 | Alexander Stille

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Astonishingly, the papyri were written by men who participated in the building of the Great Pyramid, the tomb of the Pharaoh Khufu, the first and largest of the three colossal pyramids at Giza just outside modern Cairo. Among the papyri was the journal of a previously unknown official named Merer, who led a crew of some 200 men who traveled from one end of Egypt to the other picking up and delivering goods of one kind or another. Merer, who accounted for his time in half-day increments, mentions stopping at Tura, a town along the Nile famous for its limestone quarry, filling his boat with stone and taking it up the Nile River to Giza. In fact, Merer mentions reporting to “the noble Ankh-haf,” who was known to be the half-brother of the Pharaoh Khufu and now, for the first time, was definitively identified as overseeing some of the construction of the Great Pyramid. And since the pharaohs used the Tura limestone for the pyramids’ outer casing, and Merer’s journal chronicles the last known year of Khufu’s reign, the entries provide a never-before-seen snapshot of the ancients putting finishing touches on the Great Pyramid.

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from The Eloquent Peasant blog entry:

Merer's logbook, including mention of pyramid ('Horizon of Khufu')

Wadi el-Jarf papyri in situ, photo by G. Pollin

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Fascinating. And makes sense.

I wonder if any of the prior civilizations ever came close to creating some kind of long range communication.

I guess the answer is obviously no.

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Note: this topic is from 09/29/2015. Just a re-ping.

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• New discovery: Egypt's oldest harbor, collection of papyrus uncovered [2013]

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• Israel Accused of Falsifying that Jews Built Egyptian Pyramids [09/15/2014]
• Keep the Pyramids, give us the Colosseum [12/21/2014]
• Jews Ordered Back to Egypt for Pyramid Duty [The Onion]