Prof. Pierre Tallet Keynote lecture: The papyrus of the pyramids’ builders

keynote lecture of Professor Pierre Tallet, holder of the chair of Egyptology at Sorbonne Université. The lecture was be held in the Great Hall of the Mounira Palace, headquarters of the IFAO (Cairo), Saturday 15 June 2019.

This lecture was given in the inaugural session of the ÉCRITURES research programme (Ifao-Sorbonne Université) which examines all aspects of texts in addition to their content, treating them as material and graphic objects. The program spans fieldwork, publication of primary sources and scientific events.

Abstract :
The Wadi el-Jarf site, under excavation since 2011, is an harbour on the Red Sea shore that was used at the beginning of the IVth dynasty to reach the copper and turquoise mines on the south-western part of Sinai Peninsula. During the 2013 archaeological campaign, hundreds of fragments of papyrus from the end of Khufu’s reign were collected at the entrance of one of the storage galleries that are one of the most remarkable features of the site. This is for far the oldest papyrus archive ever found in Egypt. It is related to a team of sailors and mainly includes two categories of documents: accounts of commodities delivered to the workers, and logbooks registering their daily activities over several months. Those last documents record missions led under the direction of the inspector Merer that are related to the transport of limestone blocks from the quarries of Tura to the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, then under construction on the opposite bank of the Nile.

Pierre Tallet :
Pierre Tallet studied at the École normale supérieure and at the Paris-Sorbonne University (Paris-IV), and is a graduate of history and a doctor in Egyptology. He has participated in numerous archaeological missions in Egypt in the oases of Dakhla and Bahariya, in Sinai, as well as in Karnak, Deir el-Medineh and in the Theban necropolis. He was also assistant to the publications of the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO). In 2005, he was a lecturer at Paris-Sorbonne, a member of the archaeological mission of Ain Soukhna, in the Gulf of Suez, and director of the study mission conducted jointly by the IFAO and the Sorbonne in South Sinai. Since 2011, he has headed the archaeological mission of Wadi el-Jarf studying a port of Cheops on the Red Sea coast. In 2007-2008, he taught at the Free University of Brussels as a visiting professor for courses in history, art history and archeology relating to ancient Egypt. He was president of the French Society of Egyptology from 2009 to 2017; he is currently Vice President. Since 2016, he holds the chair of Egyptology at Paris-Sorbonne University.

Organized by:
Chloé Ragazzoli (Sorbonne Université)
Florence Albert (IFAO)
Khaled Hassan (IFAO)

Coordination:
Amr Bahgat (IFAO)

Image, sound and montage:
Ihab Ibrahim (IFAO)