Posted on 09/29/2015 12:38:02 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
This came at an opportune time. :’)
Amazing. One wonders how some cultures were so brilliant and some are the same as they were maybe 10s of thousands of years ago. Some tribes in Africa and South America.
I also wonder why Egypt or Rome didn’t advance much further in the sciences and technology areas. Why so much technical advancement in the last half a century?
and if mokeys have 98 percent of our DNA, why can’t they build much more upon basic knowledge.
thinking out loud again lol
wow! Old Kingdom papyri
Our society hasn’t come to an end yet — when the Roman Empire had its ups and downs (it went in some form from 6th or 7th c BC until the mid-15th century, the fall of Constantinope, iow 2000 years) it had continual change of technology in different areas, including its military (which was a dominant force in the culture) and borrowed the best ideas from conquered peoples. The Egyptians had the 1st and 2nd intermediate periods, which saw the end of preceding periods and a chaotic transition; the Old Kingdom built big (I’d argue in favor of the geopolymerization idea) with very hard stone (ditto); the Middle Kingdom built with mud brick, including its pyramids (that was the period during which the Israelites were held in bondage); the New Kingdom again built a lot, but with softer stone, despite having much better tools.
Very good article.
I know that tourists like to go view “the big show”, like the pyramids and the Sphinx. Since I am a calligrapher, the opportunity to look over some of the oldest papyri ever discovered would be just super!
Most people do not know that the oldest known writing began in copper mining camps in the mountains of Sinai. The first examples all were found to be written by a ‘leftie’; an individual who wrote left-handed and was probably a mining engineer due to context of the writing.
How’s u r platypus duck Bill?
Fascinating read. Thanks. I didn’t follow all of it but most. wow. How do you know so much about this topic?
Political corruption accompanied by moral degeneration in the populous in general quickly followed by collapse/barbarian invasion. Happens every time.
Remember Mel Brooks “History of the World Part I”? They were getting away from the Roman soldiers in a chariot, and Gregory Hines acquired a large rolling papyrus. After he lit up. the trailing smoke caused the Romans in pursuit to slow down and mellow out.
yeah, that doesn’t help.
I think WWII started the phenomenal advancement in technology. I could be wrong.
Hitler was a monster but the scientists were pretty good, making the first jet, the first rocket...thank goodness they made them too late.
And then we took those guys here to continue their work. Kind of a slap in the face to Jews, but if we didn’t take them, someone else would havee.
Dang, I was hoping no one would bring them up. Brain bleach! Brain bleach!
Well, number one, since childhood I've been fascinated by and reading about ancient history, and number two, if I don't know the answer, I make up plausible lies. ;') The Metropolitan Museum has a special exhibition on the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, btw, for anyone interested and in geographical proximity. There's a statue of Amenemhat III, who was very likely the Pharaoh of Joseph.
It’s a good place to look for stuff, because 99% of the population lives within ten feet elevation above the Nile. :’)
I am disappoint. Very disappoint in you.
That papyrus is so obviously a cover story planted by ancient aliens to hide their involvement in building the pyramides pre-deluge that even I can see it, and I aint all that smart.
PS. Is a Pyramid like a stack of pyrrhics?
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