Wadi al-Jarf facts for kids
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وادي الجرف
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 Location in Egypt
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| Alternative name | Wadi al-Garf, Rod El-Khawaga |
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| Location | Egypt |
| Region | Red Sea Governorate |
| Coordinates | 28°53′30″N 32°39′30″E / 28.89167°N 32.65833°E |
| Site notes | |
| Archaeologists | J. G. Wilkinson |
Wadi al-Jarf (Arabic: وادي الجرف) is an amazing ancient place on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. It's about 119 kilometers (74 miles) south of Suez. This site is home to the world's oldest known man-made harbour (a place where ships can dock), built around 4,500 years ago!
Wadi al-Jarf is located at the start of the Wadi Araba, which was a main route between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea. This area helped connect different parts of ancient Egypt. Another similar old port, Ain Sukhna, is a bit north of Wadi al-Jarf.
The site was first found by J. G. Wilkinson in 1832. Later, a French team rediscovered it in the 1950s and called it Rod el-Khawaga. However, their work stopped in 1956 because of the Suez Crisis. A joint team from France and Egypt started digging again in 2011.
The harbor at Wadi al-Jarf dates back to the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt, which was about 4,500 years ago. Archaeologists found over 100 anchors there, which are the first Old Kingdom anchors ever found in their original spot. They also found many storage jars. These jars are similar to ones found across the Red Sea, showing that people traded between these two places. Even more exciting, many pieces of papyrus (ancient paper) were found. These papyri are the oldest ever discovered in Egypt and tell us a lot about life during the Fourth Dynasty.
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Finding the Ancient Port
The first time anyone wrote about the old harbor at Wadi al-Jarf was in 1832. That's when J. G. Wilkinson noticed some old structures. He found a series of tunnels cut into the stone. He thought they were Greek catacombs, which are underground burial places.
In the 1950s, some French amateur archaeologists started looking around the site. They named it Rod el-Khawaga. But they had to leave in 1956 because of the Suez Crisis. Their notes were published in 2008, which made people want to explore the site again.
Real archaeological digging started again in 2011. A team from Egypt and France, led by Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard, worked together. In April 2013, they announced they had found an ancient harbor and many papyrus documents. These papyri are the oldest ever found in Egypt, dating back to around 2560–2550 BC, near the end of Pharaoh Khufu's rule.
Amazing Discoveries
Archaeologists have found many interesting things at Wadi al-Jarf. These discoveries help us understand how people lived and worked thousands of years ago.
The Ancient Harbor Complex
The harbor area is made up of several parts. There's a long stone wall or pier (a kind of dock) about 150 meters (492 feet) long. You can still see it when the tide is low. There's also a landmark made of piled stones that helped sailors find their way.
A large building, about 60 by 30 meters (197 by 98 feet), was also found. We don't know exactly what it was used for, but it has 13 long rooms. This is the biggest ancient Egyptian building found so far along the Red Sea coast.
Further inland, there are 25 to 30 storage tunnels carved into limestone rocks. These tunnels are between 16 and 34 meters (52 and 112 feet) long. They are usually 3 meters (10 feet) wide and 2.5 meters (8 feet) tall.
Inside these tunnels, archaeologists found pieces of boats and sails, some oars, and many pieces of old rope. They also found 25 stone anchors underwater and 99 more anchors in a storage building. Finding anchors in their original spot like this is a first for Old Kingdom archaeology! Many anchors have hieroglyphs (ancient Egyptian writing) on them, probably the names of the boats they belonged to.
This port was the starting point for trips from Egypt to mining areas in South Sinai. Some experts think the harbor might have also been used for journeys to the mysterious Land of Punt, a place Egypt traded with. The harbor was built during the time of Pharaoh Khufu (2589–2566 B.C.). His name is carved on some of the big stone blocks at the site. This means this harbor is more than 1,000 years older than the next oldest known port! The harbor was probably used for a short time during the early part of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt before it was left empty.
Old Jars and Papyrus Scrolls
Many stone jars for food and water were found at the site. There were also pieces of cloth and wood. A huge collection of hundreds of papyrus fragments was discovered too. Many jars have names of people or boats written on them in red ink, showing who owned them. These jars are made of a special type of clay that has been found at other Fourth Dynasty sites, including Tell Ras Budran across the Gulf of Suez.
Ten of the papyrus pieces are very well preserved. Most of these documents are from the year after Pharaoh Khufu's 13th "cattle count" (a way of keeping track of time). They describe how the government sent food and supplies to Egyptian travelers.
One document is super interesting: it's the Diary of Merer. Merer was an official who helped build the Great Pyramid of Khufu. By reading his diary, researchers were able to learn about three months of his life. This gives us a new look into the daily lives of people during the Fourth Dynasty. These papyri are the oldest ever found in Egypt!
Ancient Homes
Three groups of buildings were found about 500 meters (1,640 feet) northwest of the harbor. These buildings were built in a rectangular shape, and their rooms were organized like cells. This suggests that these buildings were places where people lived.
