Wikipedia

Merer

logbooks written ca. 2,500 BC, recording the daily activities of stone transportation from the Tura limestone quarry to and from Giza during the 4th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt

Merer (c. 25th century BC) was a Ancient Egyptian diarist and middle ranking official who kept the first known diaries. His diaries mostly consists of the daily activities of him and his crew. The diaries also documents the transportation of white limestone blocks from Tura to Giza by boat. According to the diaries, the white limestone blocks were used to build the Great Pyramid of Giza. Merer also mentions in his diaries that Khufu (the Egyptian pharaoh, at the time) was in his 26th or 27th year of reign, at the time.[1] According to the diaries, around forty boatmen worked under Merer. The diaries were discovered in 2013.[2][3][4][5]

Merer
NationalityAncient Egyptian
OccupationDiarist
Years activec. 25th century BC
Known forFirst known diarist

Life

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Merer was an Ancient Egyptian.

The first years of Merer's life is completely obscure.

In his adulthood, Merer was a middle ranking official who held the title inspector (sHD).

Merer and his crew worked by transporting white limestone blocks from Tura to Giza, which were then used to construct the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is documented in Merer's diary. Around forty boatmen worked under Merer.

Later in his life, Merer works as a construction builder in the Nile Delta and is attempting to build a "double djadja" in the region. And even later than that, Merer works at the residence of Egyptian pharaoh Khufu.

The last years of Merer's life are disputed.

Period chronicled in Merer's diary

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First and second diaries

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The first and second diaries reveal that Merer and his crew work for several months transporting limestone from Tura to Giza in the 26th or 27th year of the reign of Egyptian pharaoh Khufu.[6][7] About every ten days, two or three round trips were done, shipping approximately 30 blocks of 2—3 tonnes each, amounting to approximately 200 blocks per month.[8][9] In the diaries, Merer mentions that he and his crew opened giant dykes to divert water from the Nile, channeling it into canals leading it into the Great Pyramid of Giza.[10] Around forty boatmen worked under Merer. The period covered in the diaries spans a few months.[6]

The entries in those two diaries are all arranged in the same line. At the top of every entry is a heading naming the month and season. Under that there is a horizontal line listing the days of the months. Under the entries for the days, there are always two vertical columns describing what happened on these days (Section B II): [Day 1] The director of 6 Idjeru casts for Heliopolis in a transport boat to bring us food from Heliopolis while the elite is in Tura, Day 2 Inspector Merer spends the day with his troop hauling stones in Tura North; spending the night at Tura North.[11]

The diaries also mention the original name of the Great Pyramid of Giza: Akhet–Khufu (English: Horizon of Khufu).[12]

In addition to Merer and his crew, a few other people are mentioned in the two diaries. The most important one is Ankhhaf, a half-brother of Khufu. Ankhhaf is known from other Ancient Egyptian sources dating to around his time. It is highly speculated that Ankhaf was a prince and vizier under Khufu and/or Khafre.[13] In the diaries, Merer mentions that Ankhhaf is a nobleman and a overseer of a ship harbor at Giza. It is highly speculated that the limestone blocks used to build the Great Pyramid were transported to the harbor.[14]

In the first two diaries, Merer writes mostly about his work.

Third diary

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The third diary reveals that Merer is working as a construction builder in the Nile Delta and is attempting to build a "double djadja" in the region, at the time.[15]

Fourth diary

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The fourth diary reveals that Merer is working at the residence and the (?) of Khufu, at the time.[15]

Other diaries

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Other diaries (5 and 6) and associated accounts (7 to 12 and other accounts) are in a state of severe putrefaction and their texts have yet to be translated and/or published.

Discovery

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In 2013, French archaeologists unearthed Merer's diaries during a excavation in a Ancient Egyptian man-made cave. The archaeologists unearthed six diaries and more than six associated accounts. All of the papyri had text written in the pages, as far as we know. The original copy of the diaries are exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.[16]

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  • Anne Frank, a famous Jewish diarist who was killed in a Nazi concentration camp during World War 2
  • Zlata Filipović, a diarist from Sarajevo called the "Bosnian Anne Frank"

References

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  1. ↑ Cite error: The named reference Smithsonian was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  2. ↑ "4,500-year-old harbor structures and papyrus texts unearthed in Egypt". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  3. ↑ "Story of the Pyramid builders revealed in 4500-yr-old papyri". CatchNews.com. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  4. ↑ "A 4,500 Year Old Papyrus Holds the Answer to How the Great Pyramid Was Built". interestingengineering.com. 2017-09-25. Archived from the original on 2020-11-17. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  5. ↑ "Revealed: 4,500 year old Papyrus that details the construction of the Great Pyramid – Mysterious Earth". Archived from the original on 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Tallet 2017, p. 160.
  7. ↑ Cite error: The named reference LiveScience was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  8. ↑ "Lost Secrets of the Pyramid (TV documentary)". 2018.
  9. ↑ "The Nature of Things: Lost Secrets Of The Pyramid". Archived from the original on 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  10. ↑ "Ancient scroll 'reveals the secret of how the pyramids were built'". uk.news.yahoo.com.[permanent dead link]
  11. ↑ Tallet 2017, p. 150.
  12. ↑ "How the Pyramids Were (and Were Not) Built - Part 2". Skeptoid. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  13. ↑ "Revealed: 4,500-year-old Papyrus that details the construction of the Great Pyramid". Ancient Code. 2016-08-05. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  14. ↑ Tallet 2017, p. 42, 52, 55, 63, 66.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Prof. Pierre Tallet Keynote lecture: The papyrus of the pyramids' builders
  16. ↑ Stille, Alexander. "The Power and the Glory". Smithsonian. 46 (6): 6.
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