"The oldest known harbor in the world has been discovered by archaeologists diving off Egypt's Red Sea coast at Wadi el-Jarf. The site was found near a huge archive of papyri – which is also the oldest known to date, and which describe how the harbor was built and used by the great King Cheops to import materials to build his flagship monument, the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The monumental harbor discovered under the waves at Wadi el-Jarf has been dated to 4,600 years ago, right in Cheops' time.
Cheops, also known by his Egyptian name Khufu, reigned from 2580 to 2550 B.C.E. He had the harbor erected 180 kilometers south of Suez, in the foothills of the desert mountains.
The site is nowhere near Giza: it seems it served mainly to import relatively lighter copper and minerals, which were used to manufacture the tools that were employed to build the pyramid.
The mere fact of the monumental harbor's existence gives us insight into the efficiency of the administration and its ability to organize highly complex logistical operations nearly five millennia ago, says Prof. Pierre Tallet of Sorbonne, the head of the excavations…"
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