Diary of Merer
The Diary of Merer ("Papyrus Jarf A and B") is the name for papyrus logbooks written over 4,500 years ago that record the daily activities of limestone transportation between the Tura quarry and Giza during the 4th Dynasty. They are the oldest known papyri with text. The text was found in 2013 by a French mission under the direction of archaeologists Pierre Tallet of Paris-Sorbonne University and Gregory Marouard in a cave in Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea coast. 

The text is written with hieroglyphs and hieratic on papyrus. The diary of Merer, a middle ranking official with the title "inspector" ("sHD"), is thought to date to the 27th year of the reign of Pharaoh Khufu and describes several months of work with the transportation of limestone from Tura to Giza. Though the diary does not specify where the stones were to be used or for what purpose, given the diary may date to what is widely considered the very end of Khufu's reign, Tallet believes they were most likely for cladding the outside of the Great Pyramid. About every ten days, two or three round trips were done, shipping perhaps 30 blocks of 2–3 tonnes each, amounting to 200 blocks per month. About forty boatmen worked under him. The period covered in the papyri extends from July to November.

The Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass describes the Diary of Merer as “the greatest discovery in Egypt in the 21st century.” The papyrus is exhibited at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Q125576
papyrus
Concept
Q1414013
logbook
Concept
Q23757
limestone
Concept
Q1027627
Tura quarry
LOC
Q81788
Giza
LOC
Q211001
4th Dynasty
LOC
Q3387065
Pierre Tallet
PER
Q546118
Paris-Sorbonne University
ORG
Q11855049
Wadi al-Jarf
Concept
Q23406
Red Sea
LOC
Q193762
hieroglyph
Concept
Q208111
hieratic
Concept
Q161904
Pharaoh Khufu
Concept
Q37200
Great Pyramid
LOC
Q140575
Zahi Hawass
PER
Q201219
Egyptian Museum
LOC
Q85
Cairo
LOC
Q39343893
Diary of Merer
ORG
Q39343893
Diary of Merer
ORG
2013-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2013
DATE
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4
NUMBER
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27
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30
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2
NUMBER
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3
NUMBER
+21^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
21
NUMBER
made from material
discoverer or inventor
location of discovery
time of discovery or invention
headquarters location