EGYPT: ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER TOMBS OF WORKERS AND THEIR SUPERVISORS WHO HELPED BUILD THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA

Record ID: 648021

  • Title: EGYPT: ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER TOMBS OF WORKERS AND THEIR SUPERVISORS WHO HELPED BUILD THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZA
  • Date: 23rd June 2000
  • Summary: GIZA, EGYPT (JUNE 21, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. LV WORKERS' TOMBS WITH PYRAMID BACKGROUND 0.05 2. SLV TWO TOMBS AND PATH; SLV ZOOM IN ENTRANCE OF TOMB (3 SHOTS) 0.30 3. MV PAN CAUSEWAY LEADING TO CHAMBER (2 SHOTS) 0.47 4. SLV INTERIOR OF TOMB WITH FALSE WALL DOOR; FALSE DOOR; SCU WALL DRAWING OF DECEASED WORKER (3 SHOTS) 1.06 5. SCU DRAWINGS ABOVE FALSE DOOR 1.10 6. SLV ZOOM IN SCU POTTERY FOUND INSIDE TOMB 1.24 7. MV /CU ARCHAEOLOGIST HOLDING POT (2 SHOTS) 1.34 8. SLV PROFESSOR ZAHI HAWASS WALKING DOWN THE TOMBS 1.37 9. SOUNDBITE (English) PROFESSOR ZAHI HAWAS DIRECTOR OF GIZA PLATEAU: "We discovered two tombs imitating the pyramids. The workmen who built the tombs in this area they did imitate the tombs of the pyramids of Cheops, Chefren and Mycerino, because they built their tombs and they built a false door inside the tomb, and this false door is equivalent to the funerate temple and has a causeway. "And down the causeway there is a basin, which is the valley temple, then the pyramids or the pyramid shape and the pyramid complex are not belonging to the Kings only, but also belong to the workmen who built their tombs from leftovers from building the pyramids. "They saved basalt, granite and limestone to support their mud-brick tombs." 2.25 10. SLV TS ENTRANCE LEADING TO THE TOMB'S CHAMBER 2.34 11. TS INTERIOR OF THE TOMB; MV MAN WALKING OUT OF THE TOMB; SLV PAN TWO TOMBS WITH THE PYRAMID IN BACKGROUND (4 SHOTS) 3.15 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GIZA, EGYPT
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVA7WDDI12UWA3HVVWH0RCZ416A
  • Story Text: Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered tombs of
    workers and their supervisors who helped build the ancient
    Pyramids of Giza some 4,600 years ago.

    The tombs, which were built at the end of the 4th
    Dynasty in Khufus (Cheops) reign and consisted of two
    settlements or cemeteries, were designed to duplicate the
    great pyramids of Giza complex.

    The workers built their tombs as exact replicas of the
    great Pyramids of Giza complex.

    They prepared the tombs with the funerary temple to the
    east of the pyramids and a causeway leading from it to an
    offering basin at the foot of the causeway. The tombs were
    also intended to last forever in the same way as those of the
    ancient Queens and Kings.

    The upper level tombs were built for the technicians,
    craftsmen and artisans, along with their families, and were
    made out of solid limestone.

    The lower level tombs were built for the workmen who moved
    the stones to build the King's pyramids. Their tombs were made
    of less resilient mudbrick, supported by building material
    including granite and basalt left over from the pyramid
    construction. Sometimes workers were buried with the
    supervisors in the upper level tombs.

    Inscriptions of curses were found in one of the tombs of a
    man, Pety and his wife, warning unwanted visitors that they
    would be eaten by crocodiles if they entered the tomb.

    The cemetery, located to the south of the Sphinx at the
    eastern foot of the three Pyramids of Giza, was discovered 10
    years ago by an Egyptian team of archaeologists, and is
    currently under restoration.

    Professor Zahi Hawas, Director of the Giza Plateau, said:
    "We discovered two tombs imitating the pyramids, the workmen
    who built the tombs in this area they did imitate the tombs of
    the pyramids of Cheops, Chefren and Mycerino, because they
    built their tombs and they built a false door inside the tomb,
    and this false door is equivalent to the funerate temple and
    has a causeway."
    Zahi said around 20,000 workers helped build the Giza
    pyramids and not 100,000 as some researchers have claimed.

    Archaeologists also found evidence showing the workers
    dressed in more or less the same way as present-day workers.

    Near one of the causeways, archaeologists found an
    unfinished double statue of a man and woman, with the man's
    right foot placed in front of the left.


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