Pierre Tallet's discovery of the Red Sea Scrolls--the world's oldest
surviving written documents--in 2013 was one of the most remarkable
moments in the history of Egyptology. These papyri, written some 4,600
years ago, and combined with Mark Lehner's research, changed what we
thought we knew about the building of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Here, for the first time, the world-renowned Egyptologists Tallet and
Lehner give us the definitive account of this astounding discovery. The
story begins with Tallet's hunt for hieroglyphic rock inscriptions in
the Sinai Peninsula and leads up to the discovery of the papyri, the
diary of Inspector Merer, who oversaw workers in the reign of Pharaoh
Khufu in Wadi el-Jarf, the site of an ancient harbor on the Red Sea. The
translation of the papyri reveals how the stones of the Great Pyramid
ended up in Giza. Combined with Lehner's excavations of the harbor at
the pyramid construction site the Red Sea Papyri have greatly advanced
our understanding of how the ancient Egyptians were able to build
monuments that survive to this day.
Tallet and Lehner narrate this thrilling discovery and explore how the
building of the pyramids helped create a unified state, propelling
Egyptian civilization forward. This lavishly illustrated book captures
the excitement and significance of these seminal findings, conveying
above all how astonishing it is to discover a contemporary eyewitness
testimony to the creation of the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient
World.
