The so-called “Goldmine Papyrus” with a map of the Wadi Hammamat on the recto and several texts (letters, administrative, and literary) on the verso

The fragmentary papyrus belonged to the Deir el-Medina scribe Amennakht the son of Ipuy, who is also believed to be its author. It is one of the earliest known geographical maps. The top is oriented southward, in the direction of the source of the Nile river. The map shows a mountainous region crossed by wadis, that is, ancient dried-up river beds. There are a main wadi and some secondary ones. Scholars have proved that the main wadi is the Wadi Hammamat, which connects the Nile Valley to the Red Sea. The hills on either side of the wadis are shown frontally and pointing upward or downward, a common device in Egyptian art. Some are pink, or pink with brown bands (these are sedimentary rocks and pink granite outcrops), other black (effusive and metamorphic rocks). The scribe straightened out the actual large bends of the Wadi Hammamat, which otherwise would not have fit in the scroll. The map does not use a constant scale, but nevertheless appears to stay within a range of 50 to 100 meters per centimeter.
The back, or verso, of the papyrus was used to write many other texts. The first from the right – hieratic was written from right to left, so writing usually began from the right edge of the sheet – is a copy of a letter to king Ramesses VI, whose writer (the name is lost) requests to be assigned an “infirm” from the army to perform the cult of a statue of wood and precious materials the author of the letter has offered to the king. The following text concerns what would appear to be requisition by the high priest of Amon, Ramsesnakht, of a large amount of copper belonging to the workmen of Deir el-Medina. Further to the left, a text written in large calligraphic script stands out. It contains a list of gods and their festival days. The text along the upper edge to the right records that Amennakht bore witness to an oath by a citizen, whose name is lost.