What did Egypt discover about the workers who built the pyramids from their tombs?”
CAIRO (Reuters) – New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt’s chief archaeologist said on Sunday. Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts. “These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves,” Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement. “If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king’s.” He said the collection of workers’ tombs, some of which were found in the 1990s, were among the most significant finds in the 20th and 21st centuries. They belonged to workers who built the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre. Hawass had earlier found graffiti on the walls from workers calling themselves “friends of Khufu” — another sign that they
New workers’ tombs found near Egypt’s great pyramid (AFP) – 10 hours ago CAIRO — Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a number of tombs of workers who helped to construct the country’s largest pyramid, Culture Minister Faruk Hosni said in a statement on Sunday. Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass led the team that “uncovered a new group of tombs dating back to the period of the fourth dynasty (2694-2513 BC), which belonged to workers who helped to build the great pyramid,” Hosni said. The first of these tombs was discovered in 1990. Hawass said the new discovery at the Cheops pyramid was particularly important as it “belies all that was said about the construction of the pyramids by bound workers… and contradicts the idea that they were constructed by slaves.” He cited as evidence the fact that “the tombs are located in the direct vicinity of the pyramid and even overlook it. If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs in this area.” Hawass also mentioned “evi
CAIRO – Egyptian archaeologists discovered a new set of tombs belonging to the workers who built the great pyramids, shedding light on how the laborers lived and ate more than 4,000 years ago, the antiquities department said Sunday. The thousands of men who built the last remaining wonder of the ancient world ate meat regularly, worked in three months shifts and were given the honor of being buried in mud brick tombs within the shadow of the sacred pyramids they worked on. The newly discovered tombs date to Egypt’s 4th Dynasty (2575 B.C. to 2467 B.C.) when the great pyramids were built, according to the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass. Sources: Yahoo!
