Wadi al-Jarf (Arabic: وادي الجرف) is an area on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, 119 km (74 mi) south of Suez, that is the site of the oldest known artificial harbour in the world, developed about 4500 years ago.

It is located at the mouth of the Wadi Araba, a major communication corridor between the Nile Valley and the Red Sea, crossing the Eastern Desert.

A large number of papyrus fragments were found at Wadi al-Jarf, providing insight into life during the Fourth Dynasty.

[2] In the 1950s, a group of French amateurs in archeology began to explore some parts of the site, which they named Rod el-Khawaga, but they were expelled during the 1956 Suez Crisis.

[3] Systematic excavation resumed in 2011 by a joint Egyptian–French archeological team led by Pierre Tallet (University Paris IV-La Sorbonne) and Gregory Marouard (The Oriental Institute, Chicago).

[5] Inside the galleries lay several boat and sail fragments, some oars, and numerous pieces of ancient rope.

The jars are characterized by a very particular marl composition which had previously been identified in Fourth Dynasty contexts at other sites, including across the Gulf of Suez at Tell Ras Budran.

[2] The majority of these documents date to the year after the 13th cattle count of Khufu's reign and describe how the central administration sent food and supplies to Egyptian travelers.

Using the diary, researchers reconstructed three months of his life, providing new insight into everyday lives of people of the Fourth Dynasty.