An Ancient Papyrus Reveals How The Great Pyramid of Giza Was Built

Stones weighing up to fifteen tonnes were hauled down the Nile on wooden boats to a man-made port. For centuries it has been one of the world’s greatest enigmas: how did a primitive society with little technology build the Great Pyramid of Giza — the oldest and only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? At 146 metres high, it was for nearly 4,000 years, the tallest man-made structure on Earth.

In what is considered by some to be one of the greatest discoveries in Egypt in the 21st century, archaeologists have unearthed the diary of Merer, an official involved in the construction of Giza’s great pyramid.

The 4,500-year-old papyrus is the oldest in the world and describes how wooden boats and an ingenious system of waterworks transported blocks of limestones and granite weighing up to 15 tonnes from 13 kilometres away. In it, Merer (which means beloved) describes how he and a crew of 40 elite workmen shipped the stones downstream from Tura to Giza along the Nile River.

In the last few years, the papyrus and other archeological excavations have revealed new information about how the pyramids were constructed. Here are some of the findings uncovered in the Nature of Things documentary Lost Secrets of the Pyramid.

Water was harnessed to transport the huge stones.

Every summer, when the Nile flooded, giant dykes were opened to divert water from the river and channel it to the pyramid through a manmade canal system creating an inland port that allowed boats to dock very close to the worksite — just a few hundred metres away from the growing pyramid.

The construction of artificial ports was a huge turning point for Egyptians, opening up trade and new relationships with people from distant lands.

Wooden boats were built with rope instead of nails.

The limestone was carried along the River Nile in wooden boats built with planks and rope that were capable of hauling two-and-a-half tonne stones.  Using ancient tomb carvings and the remains of an ancient dismantled ship as a guide, archaeologist Mohamed Abd El-Maguid has recreated one Egyptian boat from scratch.

3D scans of the ship planks revealed that the boats were full of holes that lined up perfectly with each other. Instead of nails or wood pegs, these boats were sewn together with rope like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

With 1,000 holes and five kilometres of rope the new boat was assembled and Abd El-Maguid and in Secrets of the Pyramid, attempts to re-create every step of Merer’s journey down the Nile with two-tonne limestone rock.

These boats were rowed carefully with the current down the Nile to the worksite. Once the rocks were unloaded, the wind helped propel the vessel back to the quarry.

Workers were valued and lived nearby in a huge settlement

Archaeologist Mark Lehner has uncovered artefacts that provide evidence of a vast settlement that held as many as 20,000 people. Average workers lived in huge dormitories, but team leaders like Merer lived in relative luxury with homes of their own.

Thousands of tiny bits of detritus of everyday life reveal that these hungry workers were well taken care of. An entire city was formed near the pyramid site to provide food and drink.

For most of the workers, building the pyramids was a source of prestige; these people have valued servants of the state.

Workers belonged to teams

Ankhhaf, Pharoah Khufu’s half-brother is mentioned in Merer’s diary and is thought to have been in charge of the operation.  He divided the workforce into ‘phyles’ teams of 40 men — which someone like Merer oversaw.

Artefacts with team names on them have been discovered by archaeologist Pierre Tallet at a remote desert outpost in Wadi Al-Jarf about 250 kilometres away. Merer’s phyle was called “The Followers of the Boat named after the Snake on its Figurehead.”

Four phyles formed a gang of elite labourers. Each team has specific roles in the construction of the pyramid or the transportation of materials to the worksite.

Thousands of men, working together for over 20 years, succeeded in building the tallest, heaviest structure on earth. They transformed the landscape, and in doing so, also created a new society which archaeologist Mark Lehner says is the real achievement, “Once they had put all these systems and all this infrastructure in place there was no going back. They became more important than the pyramid itself and set Egyptian civilization off on a course for the next two or three millennia.”

Scents Help Researchers Identify Contents of Egyptian Vessels

More than 3,400 years after two ancient Egyptians were laid to rest, the jars of food left to nourish their eternal souls still smell sweet. A team of analytical chemists and archaeologists has analysed these scents to help identify the jars’ contents1. The study shows how the archaeology of smell can enrich our understanding of the past — and perhaps make museum visits more immersive.

The 1906 discovery of the intact tomb of Kha and Merit in the Deir el-Medina necropolis near Luxor was a landmark moment in Egyptology. The tomb of Kha — a ‘chief of works’, or an architect — and Merit, his wife, remains the most complete non-royal ancient burial ever found in Egypt, revealing important information about how high-ranking individuals were treated after death.

“It’s an amazing collection,” says Ilaria Degano, an analytical chemist at the University of Pisa, Italy. “Among the objects, there are even examples of Kha’s ancient Egyptian linen underwear, embroidered with his name.”

Unusually for the time, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb resisted the temptation to unwrap the mummies or peer inside the sealed amphorae, jars and jugs there, even after they were transferred to the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy. The contents of many of these vessels are still a mystery, although there are some clues, says Degano. “From talking with the curators, we knew there were some fruity aromas in the display cases,” she says.

Odour analysis

Degano and her colleagues placed various artefacts — including sealed jars and open cups laden with the rotten remains of ancient food — inside plastic bags for several days to collect some of the volatile molecules they still release.

Then the team used a mass spectrometer to identify the components of the aromas from each sample.  They found aldehydes and long-chain hydrocarbons, indicative of beeswax; trimethylamine, associated with dried fish; and other aldehydes common in fruits. “Two-thirds of the objects gave some results,” Degano says. “It was a very nice surprise.”

The findings will feed into a larger project to re-analyse the tomb’s contents and produce a more comprehensive picture of burial customs for non-royals that existed when Kha and Merit died, about 70 years before Tutankhamun came to the throne.

This isn’t the first time that scent compounds have revealed important information about ancient Egypt. In 2014, researchers extracted volatile molecules from linen bandages that are between 6,300 and 5,000 years old that were used to wrap bodies in some of the earliest known Egyptian cemeteries2. The molecules confirmed the presence of embalming agents with antibacterial properties, showing that Egyptians were experimenting with mummification some 1,500 years earlier than had been thought.

Odour analysis is still an underexplored area of archaeology, says Stephen Buckley, an archaeologist and analytical chemist at the University of York, UK, who was involved in the 2014 study. “Volatiles have been ignored by archaeologists because of an assumption they would have disappeared from artefacts,” he says. But “if you want to understand the ancient Egyptians, you really want to go into that world of smell”.

For example, sweet-smelling incense derived from aromatic resins was essential for the ancient Egyptians. “Incense was necessary for temple ceremonies and for some mortuary rituals,” says Kathryn Bard, an archaeologist at Boston University in Massachusetts. Because resin-producing trees didn’t grow in Egypt, this necessitated ambitious long-distance expeditions to obtain supplies.

Enriched exhibits

Aside from revealing more about past civilizations, ancient smells could add a dimension to the visitor experience at museums. “Smell is a relatively unexplored gateway to the collective past,” says Cecilia Bembibre at University College London. “It has the potential [to allow] us to experience the past in a more emotional, personal way.”

But reconstructing ancient smells is not easy, says Bembibre. Degradation and decomposition can be a smelly business, so the scents from an artefact today do not necessarily match what Bembibre calls the original “smellscape” of a tomb.

With the right knowledge and understanding, it should be possible to pull the original and the decomposition scents apart, says Buckley. Whether visitors would actually want to experience the full and potentially unpleasant smellscape of an ancient tomb is still up for debate. “Curators might want to give people a choice over how far they want to push the smell experience,” says Buckley.

Egypt uncovers the 4,000-year-old painted tomb of a royal palace official

Five painted tombs were recently unearthed in Saqqara, an ancient Egyptian necropolis just outside of Cairo, according to a report by Reuters.

The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said that a recent excavation of burial shafts resulted in the finding of the tombs, along with more than 20 sarcophagi, toys, wooden boats, masks, and more.

The tombs are at least 4,000 years old, dating back to the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate period, a so called dark period in ancient Egyptian history as the regime of the Old Kingdom collapsed and political instability led to the destruction of monuments, artworks, and more. As such, not much remains from this time.

These tombs, however, are well-preserved and particularly well-decorated, with the additional inclusion of small statues and pots. Some of the paintings seem to represent food offerings.

The tombs, which reside near the pyramid of King Merenre I, are believed to have belonged to senior officials and court advisors.

The identity of two of those buried in the tombs has been ascertained. One was a top official named Iry, whose tomb included a limestone sarcophagus.

The other was occupied by a woman named Petty, who was both a priest of Hathor and a kind of beautician for Menere I.

Menere I is believed to be the father of Pepi II, the most notable pharaoh of this age whose reign is said to have lasted for more than 90 years.

The Egyptian government has been actively excavating Saqqara over the past several months.

In November, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced that it had found the tomb of a treasurer to the New Kingdom pharaoh Ramses II, which included several intact murals, in Saqqara.

These recent discoveries come amid the government’s “Follow the Sun” campaign that is aimed at attracting tourists to come see the archaeological wonders of ancient Egypt, both those well-known and recently discovered.

The country’s economy largely depends on this tourism, which has been impacted for over a decade beginning with the Arab Spring protests there.

More recently, the pandemic’s slowing down on international travel and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—a large portion of tourists to Egypt are Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian—have also affected the tourism industry there.

Egypt breakthrough: How lost Tutankhamun artefact was found after ‘vanishing for decades’

Tutankhamun was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule at the end of the 19th Dynasty during the New Kingdom. Known as “the boy king,” he inherited the throne at just nine years old and mysteriously died less than a decade later, with his burial rushed and his legacy seemingly wiped, leading many to claim he was murdered. In 1922, Howard Carter discovered KV62 in the Valley of the Kings, jam-packed with the most luxurious collection of artefacts, along with Tutankhamun’s body.

Now, almost a century later, an item that was thought to have been lost or stolen has reemerged thanks to the construction of a new museum, Channel 5’s “Secrets of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings” revealed.

The narrator said in March: “300 miles north of the valley in Giza, in the shadow of the pyramids, the magnificent treasures found in Tutankhamun’s tomb are getting a new home.

“British archaeologist Howard Carter found over 5,000 artefacts and set the standard for modern archaeology by spending years meticulously cataloguing them.

“However, the huge collection ended up scattered in locations across Egypt. 

“This £700million museum and research centre will reunite the collection for the first tie in a century.

“Now, in the new museum’s labs, scientists and Egyptologists use modern technology to study and analyse each artefact.”

The series went on to describe how one of Mr Carter’s original boxes was uncovered.

It added: “But some of Tut’s greatest treasures are yet to arrive.

“300 miles south in Luxor, Eissa Zidan is preparing 122 of Tut’s artefacts for their move to Giza.

“But a few hours into the packing, Eissa gets some unexpected news. 

“During the move, the team have unearthed one of the original boxes Howard Carter used to transport Tut’s treasures out of the tomb.

“It was hidden in the corner of a storeroom and it’s been lost for decades.”

Inside the box, archaeologists found an amazing piece of history. The narrator explained: “These delicate wooden pieces are ancient boat parts and belong to one of the model boats that Howard Carter found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

“The idea of eternal life was essential to ancient Egyptians as it is to major religions today.

“They believed the deceased would begin the journey by boat, so model boats were precious grave goods.

“The vessels often came complete with crew, because it was believed the replicas would come to life and help with fishing and transport in the afterlife.”

The afterlife was essential to ancient Egyptians and the goods they were buried with were said to be a key part of the journey.

The series continued: “The pharaohs used a special vessel to sail across the sky for eternity. 

“Ordinary people also thought they could reach the afterlife by boat, rowing up the Nile on these models and into the next world.

“Records show that the box was sent to Luxor in 1973, but had gone missing, presumed lost or stolen.

“The mast and the boat must have become separated decades ago.”

The discovery came before the opening of the new exhibition in London: “Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh.” More than 150 artefacts have travelled from Egypt to the Saatchi Gallery and will be on display now until May 3, 2020.  

For the first time ever, 60 items have left the country, before they return to their permanent home in the new Grand Egyptian Museum next year.   Recently closed in Paris, the exhibition became France’s most visited of all time with an attendance of over 1.4 million.

Ancient papyrus holds the world’s oldest guide to mummification

The oldest known instructions for the ancient art of embalming mummies were recently discovered on a medical papyrus from ancient Egypt. How-to descriptions of the mummification process are exceptionally rare in the archaeological record — only two other such “manuals” are known.

This newest example, found in an ancient scroll dating to around 1450 B.C., predates other mummification texts by more than 1,000 years. The guide contains many helpful suggestions, such as how to make herbal insect repellent and using red linen wrappings to reduce facial swelling.

Sofie Schiødt, a research assistant in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen, discovered the embalming manual while translating a papyrus for her doctoral thesis, which will be published in 2022, university representatives said in a statement.

Half of the papyrus scroll is in the university’s Papyrus Carlsberg Collection, and the other half is in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Prior to that, each piece was privately owned, and they were acquired by the university and the Louvre in 2015 and 2006, respectively, Schiødt told Live Science in an email. It wasn’t until 2018 that experts learned that the two pieces were part of the same scroll.

In its entirety, the papyrus measures nearly 20 feet (6 meters) long and is inscribed on both sides. It is the second-longest medical papyrus from ancient Egypt, and Schiødt’s translation project relies mostly on high-resolution photographs of the precious artefact.

“This way we can move displaced fragments around digitally, as well as enhance colours to better read passages where the ink is not so well-preserved,” Schiødt said. “It also aids in reading difficult signs when you can zoom in on the high-res photos.”

Succinct recipes

There are five sections in the medical papyrus. The first is short medical recipes, followed by a section on herbs. Next is a long section on skin diseases, followed by the embalming manual, “and finally another section of succinct medical recipes,” Schiødt said. 

Only a small portion of the papyrus — just three columns of text — covers embalming. Though the mummification section is brief, it’s packed with details, many of which were absent from later embalming texts. 

“Several recipes are included in the manual describing the manufacturing of various aromatic unguents,” Schiødt told Live Science, referring to substances used as ointments.

However, some parts of the embalming process, such as drying the corpse with natron — a desiccating compound made of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate (salt and baking soda) — aren’t described at length. 

“As such, the text reads mostly as a memory aid, helping the embalmer remember the most intricate parts of the embalming process,” she said.

According to the manual, embalming a person took 70 days, and the task was performed in a special workshop near the person’s grave. The two main stages — drying and wrapping — each lasted 35 days. 

Schiødt said that one of the exciting new pieces of information from the text involves a procedure for embalming a dead person’s face.

The instructions include a recipe that combines plant-based aromatics and binders, cooking them into a liquid “with which the embalmers coat a piece of red linen,” she said. 

“The red linen is then applied to the dead person’s face in order to encase it in a protective cocoon of fragrant and anti-bacterial matter,” and this was repeated every four days, according to the study. On days when the embalmers were not actively treating the body, they covered it with straw infused with aromatic oils “in order to keep insects and scavengers away,” according to Schiødt.

Work on the mummy typically wrapped up by day 68, “after which the final days were spent on ritual activities allowing the deceased to live on in the afterlife,” Schiødt wrote.

Huge cemetery with at least 250 rock-cut tombs discovered in Egypt

About 250 tombs, some with fancy layouts and hieroglyphics, have been discovered cut into a hill at Al-Hamidiyah cemetery to the east of Sohag, in Egypt’s the Eastern Desert, about 240 miles (386 kilometres) southeast of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said.

The tombs were constructed at different times in Egypt’s history, the archaeologists said in a statement from the ministry.

The earliest were constructed about 4,200 years ago, at a time when Egypt’s “Old Kingdom,” as modern-day Egyptologists call it, was collapsing.

At this time, the pharaohs of Egypt were losing control of the country, as a number of local governors gained power. Why these tombs were cut into the hill is not clear but it was not an uncommon practice in ancient Egypt. 

The tombs in the cemetery that date to the end of the Old Kingdom tended to have a more elaborate architecture that included an entrance corridor leading down to a gallery with a burial room located in the southeast part of the structure.

The archaeologists also found pieces of limestone with hieroglyphic inscriptions in some of these tombs; they also discovered what may be the remains of plates that were placed as funerary offerings to tomb owners, the ministry said in the statement. 

In one tomb that dated to the end of the Old Kingdom, archaeologists found paintings that depict the tomb owner slaughtering animal sacrifices, and people making offerings for the deceased, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in the statement. 

The latest of the tombs found in the cemetery date to almost 2,100 years ago, the end of what modern-day scholars call the “Ptolemaic Period.”

At this time, pharaohs descended from Ptolemy I, who was one of Alexander the Great’s generals, ruled Egypt.

Roman power in the region was growing around 2,100 years ago, and in 30 B.C., after Cleopatra VII died by suicide, Egypt became a Roman province.

The team discovered numerous artefacts inside the tombs, including cups, jars and plates — some of which were full-sized examples that may have been used in daily life, and others that were miniature vessels possibly used as symbolic offerings for the deceased, the ministry said in the statement.

The tombs also contained painted spherical vessels that could have been used to store liquids. What was left of a round metal mirror was found in one tomb, and many of the tombs held both animal and human remains.

Research at the site is ongoing and more tombs may be found in the future, Waziri said.