Uncovering the Ancient Secret: 4500 Year Old Room Discovered in Egypt
This blog delves into the fascinating mysteries surrounding the Great Pyramids of Giza. It explores the recent discovery of a hidden storeroom at Wadi al-Jarf, revealing a trove of ancient artifacts, including the oldest papyrus ever found.
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2/3/20259 min read


Wadi al-Jarf: A Hidden Treasure
At a distance of 200 km from Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza there is an area close to the shores of the Red Sea which is called Wadi al-Jarf. You could only see mountains and mounds of barren limestone, far and wide. But there is also such a secret spot in which some such secrets are hidden, which were buried 4500 years ago. Yes, in this deserted place, there is a limestone mound in the middle of the desert. Which looks like an ordinary mound when viewed from above, but many tunnels were made by cutting stones inside it and these tunnels were blocked with the help of stones weighing thousands of tons. 45 centuries ago, the Ancient Egyptians had hidden something here which they did not want to bring to the world. But when the stones were removed from the front of these tunnels for the first time, the scene inside shook the whole world.
The Great Pyramids of Giza
The magnificent pyramids of Egypt and every patch of this land is filled with fascinating mysteries. Although 118 pyramids have been found all over Egypt so far, but it is believed that many pyramids are still hidden under sand dunes in Egypt and the African desert. At present, the largest of the pyramids that exist in the world, can be found in the Egyptian city of Cairo. Which is called the Pyramid of Khufu. This 480-feet high pyramid was built by Egyptian king Khufu. Whereas next to it, this 450 feet high Pyramid was built by King Khafre son of king Khufu during his reign. Surprisingly, 2.5 million square and rectangle blocks of limestone were used to make each pyramid. And the weight of each block is said to be 2500 kg. It is the same weight as the weight of two Hatchback cars. Carrying so much weight to a height of 480 feet and keeping each block at the perfect angle is a task which in today's era can take many years to perform even with the help of machinery. So imagine how this work would have been done 45 centuries ago without machinery? This is such a mystery which has kept the world puzzled for the last many hundreds of years. The place where these Pyramids are build, was once a flourishing city of ancient Egyptians. But then due to unknown reasons, this entire area got submerged under several feet of sand. In the year 1798, when the French military leader Napoleon came to capture Egypt. That time the Pyramid and the Sphinx were buried more than halfway through the sand. Excavation work continued for the next hundred years to remove sand. And for the first time in the 1980s, a major discovery took place here. Near the Pyramid of Khafre, the skeleton of the workers were found who built Khafre's Pyramid. After inspecting many skeletons, it was found that these people were not slaves because they were given good food and were given medical treatment. These workers were buried near the pyramids as a mark of respect for building their king's pyramids. Unfortunately, after the death of King Khufu, this place was at the mercy of the grave robbers for many years. For this reason, neither any papyrus i.e. a written document was found from here nor any such evidence was found, from which it can be concluded that when and how these pyramids were made. Even many statues of other Egyptian kings and their Mummies were discovered. But with time neither any intact statue of King Khufu is left nor did the robbers spare his mummy. Only a finger-sized statue of King Khufu was found, which is kept in the Cairo Museum.
The Search for Clues Outside Giza
To know the Egyptian King Khufu and his life in detail, it was necessary that investigations were done outside Giza. Archaeologists found an old seaport on the coast of the Red Sea at a distance of 200 km from the pyramid site. Which was suspected to have been used during the reign of King Khufu. This broken structure found near the sea was so big that several hundred people could live and work comfortably in it. When this area was thoroughly inspected, boat anchors were also found from inside the sea. In that era, anchors made of stones were used to dock big boats by tying ropes through them. Stone anchors with holes were found in large numbers, which proves that 4500 years ago it used to be a seaport for ancient Egyptians.
The Discovery at Wadi al-Jarf
If this was a port, then obviously the boats (or their parts) that used to sail here would have been kept somewhere nearby. And the experts were looking for those boats only. After many years of hard work, Egyptologist finally found several tunnels dug with great skill inside a mound of limestone, a few kilometers away from the port. Whose entrance was blocked with the help of big stones. The probability was high that this was the place where ancient Egyptians used to hide their boats from robbers.
The Merer Papyrus: Unraveling the Secrets
But the archaeological team had no idea at all that from here they are going to get some special evidence even greater than the boats. When the stones were removed from the entrance of these tunnels, the scene inside was something, which no one had seen it for the last 4,500 years. No whole boat was found in this very large and spacious store room like tunnels but many parts of the boats were definitely found. Apart from these parts, the name of King Khufu was also found written on many stones here.
The French Egyptologist Pierre Tallet is well aware of this name as he had seen this name on many hieroglyphics before. What was written on it means "May our God Khufu protect us." The ancient Egyptians considered their king to be God and wherever they used to work, they used to write the name of their God i.e. king. This name is written on the stone was a sign that this ancient storeroom was used during the period of King Khufu. When a detailed investigation was done in this secret storeroom, surprisingly a dilapidated papyrus was also found here.
which was buried under a heavy stone. Papyrus is a thick paper made from the papyrus plant. In those days all the paperwork was done on these papyri. Egyptologists and their team who came here to search for boats but now he had got a very important document. And it is also necessary to tell you here that it was the oldest papyrus found all over the world till date. To understand what was written in this document, it is necessary to restore it first. After six years of hard work, when it was restored
it showed glimpses of the King Khufu's era. The author of this papyrus was a supervisor named Merer, who worked for King Khufu. It was a kind of record book in which the supervisor used to write down whatever work he did with his 40 workers. Ancient Egyptians used graphics in their language. For this reason, it is very difficult for an Egyptologist to interpret those graphics. The biggest question that was troubling them was what was the supervisor doing here with his 40 workers? And what work did he do for King Khufu?
After many years of hard work, it was learned from papyrus that a supervisor named Merer used to unload the copper from the boat and transfer it to the Nile River with the help of donkeys. From there he used to transport copper to the Pyramid site by loading it again on boats. Knowing this information, Egyptologists started to understand the whole story. There was no iron in that period, that's why Merer and his team used to sit in boats and go across the ocean to the Sinai Peninsula. A lot of copper is still found in Sinai
and after loading the copper from there, they used to come back to the port. He used to carry copper on the donkeys and carry them upto the Nile River. From where they used to load them again in boats to delivered them to the pyramid site. Egyptologists believe that they used to delivered so much copper in just one expedition that it was enough for the next two years. And for these two years they used to disassemble their boats and put them in this secret store room of Wadi al-Jarf. But the question is, where was the copper used in the construction of the Pyramid?
The Construction of the Pyramids: Engineering Marvels
Whereas only limestone and granite is seen here. Actually, with the help of copper, they used to make tools which were used to make blocks of limestone. Large mountains of limestone are present at a distance of a few kilometers from the pyramid site. and this place is called Tura Egyptologists have found a lot of evidence from this place, which shows that limestone blocks used in pyramids were brought from here. But how? How 2.5 ton blocks were cut out from the mountain and that too in perfect shape?
To know this, it was necessary to experiment with the help of the copper tool itself. A team of archaeologists' defined their work area by first drawing the shape of a block on the limestone and then started cutting it with the help of copper tools. At first it seemed quite difficult to cut lime stones, but then the water was used. After sprinkling water it was noticed that the speed of cutting limestone has increased by five times. It took eight days for five workers to cut a block. But archaeologists believe that because the ancient Egyptians were experienced,
they would have completed this work in 4 to 5 days. Egyptologists and archaeologists could see the mystery of the construction of the Khufu's pyramid being solved. By finding one important document, they got to know from where the copper was imported. How a team of 40 workers with their supervisor used to hide their boats in the secret store room in Wadi al-Jarf and how large blocks of limestone was cut with copper tools. The team of experts now wanted to know that after cutting down the blocks of Limestone,
Transporting the Massive Stones
how did they carry them at the height of 480 feet to the top of the pyramid. Unfortunately, no such clue was left behind in the pyramids that would reveal anything. For this reason, even to find out this, there was a need to find evidence outside the pyramid site. At a distance of 30 km from the pyramid site in Giza, the location of Hatnub exists amidst the scorching heat of the desert. Here the team of Archaeologists found the place from where the Ancient Egyptians used to cut a special type of stone to make the statue.
This stone is known as Egyptian alabaster. Using which the Egyptian kings used to get their statues built. To make such a big statue, obviously big stones were cut from here. And that too in one piece. A team of more than 100 workers and archaeologists had come here to know how this special stone was brought up from several feet below the ground. This site was also very special for the Archaeologists because here also the name of King Khufu was found in several places. There has been no work on this stone quarry for the last 45 centuries.
Because of this, a lot of sand and debris has gathered here with the passage of time. But experts are very hopeful that they will definitely get some solid information from here. The excavation work continued here for several months, but apart from the rubble, nothing could be found from here. But finally, the day came when the first clue was found here. Several feet below the ground, a formation like stairs and a ramp buried under the rubble become observable. After further excavation, some unique pits also emerged on the stairs.
Stairs on both sides, ramp in the middle with a slope of around 25% and why were the unique pits on the stairs created? Experts believed that all this was made only to carry the stone coming out of the quarry up. After much deliberation, it was concluded that log of wood were inserted in these pits. Large blocks of stone which were tied with ropes and that rope used to twist through these wooden logs. Due to which it was easy for the workers to haul the stone. It can be assumed that this wooden log was used as a pulley.
You must have seen the pulley system in modern cranes and lifters too. By using a pulley the load on the motor of the crane is reduced by up to 50% It is now quite clear that a block of stone was placed on the middle ramp. Whereas on the stairs on both the sides, the workers used to haul the stone block up with the help of ropes and wooden logs. While sand may also have been used to reduce the friction of the stone block. Archaeologists and experts had now solved the mystery of carrying thousands of kilograms of stone blocks up, to a large extent.
The Mystery of the Pyramids Remains
If at the location of Hatnub, the same method was used to lift the stone block from the stone quarry. Then there is a high chance that similar ramps would have been made during the construction of the pyramid. And the limestone blocks might have been hauled up like this. Viewers, it has been 4500 years since the Great Pyramid was built and for the last three hundred years, they have kept the whole world puzzled in different mysteries. Of course, Archaeologists and experts have known a lot about these Pyramids.