Experts Make Chilling New Discovery At The Pyramids Of Giza
Although archaeologists have found out a great deal about the ancient Egyptian empire over the course of several centuries, the empire’s many pharaohs had exerted enough influence over vast lands and had ostentatious enough tastes to keep new discoveries coming for millennia.
That means archaeologists are still finding incredible treasures and tombs today but it also means that they’d be starting from square one if not for generations of curious, daring adventurers before them. Today, we’ll capture some of the most incredible Egyptian discoveries over the hundreds of years since people started looking.
The Understanding People Started With
Although it’s likely that the Egyptians of the 17th Century knew a healthy amount about their nation’s history, that wasn’t always the case for the rest of the world.
For many, this scene was what tended to come to mind when people pictured Egypt. Biblical stories of men forcing enslaved people to build grand monuments with the cracks of their whips. Although historians now understand that the pyramids were built by skilled and salaried laborers, the opposite impression has persisted for millennia.
The Hardest Wonder Of The World To Miss
Although it took centuries to correct the record on how the Egyptian empire ran, that took study by learned people from multiple nations over the years to happen.
Although the Great Pyramid of Giza and its nearby monuments are massive, obvious landmarks when in their vicinity, that doesn’t mean unlocking its secrets was easy or safe.
The Earliest Discoveries
When Europeans started uncovering the wonders of ancient Egypt, it was so long that the camera had yet to be invented. In these times, any news and artifacts they brought home would have been covered in illustrations like this etching from 1689 by Jan Luyken.
Even from this illustration, it’s pretty clear that archaeologists of the 16th Century weren’t anywhere near as careful or respectful as they’re expected to be nowadays. Still, their pawing and digging still uncovered the sarcophagi of pharaohs and other prominent ancient Egyptians.
A Mummy That Would Be More Carefully Handled Now
From this second etching, it’s clear that that travelling archaeologists from the 17th Century discovered that the bodies encased in the elaborate tombs they discovered were preserved by mummification.
While we can’t be sure how they found the tombs, it’s clear they made this discovery in a way that would horrify modern archaeologists, among others.
A Discovery Fit For Indiana Jones
Since Egypt had many rules over the course of its imperial age and many pyramids commemorating them, it’s hard exactly whose tomb was being depicted in this illustration from the early 1800s.
However, the wonder and fascination evident even in these cartoon representations of Egyptologists suggests that they came face-to-face with a king’s burial chamber for the first time. Given the difference in grandeur between this tomb and the sarcophagi found over a century earlier, they may have learned the difference between expensive funeral arrangements and royal ones.
Precarious Adventures Were Part Of The Job
As this impressive and perspective-inducing illustration from 1802 shows, some archaeologists found that navigating these ancient pyramids was much easier to figure out for the people who built them.
Those showing up centuries later may not have had to content with spike traps or rolling boulders but they did have to climb treacherous walls, carefully descend into pits, and crouch under panels to find secret passages. It’s an incredible adventure but a dangerous one.
Discovering The Grand Gallery
Although it’s unclear which pyramids the proto-archaeologists from the 17th Century and early 19th Century visited, what is clear is that this illustration from 1872 was taken in the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
As the artist depicted, a European Egyptologist was led into this narrow corridor by local guides as they witnessed the pyramid’s inner chambers for the first time. It may have been an easy landmark to find but exploring it was a different story.
Even Getting Inside Wasn’t So Easy
Considering how large the Great Pyramid of Giza is, it’s hard to imagine that the first Egyptologist to explore it expected to navigate such narrow passages.
If that’s true, their shock came as soon as they arrived at the pyramid. As this 1872 illustration of the explorer’s local guides demonstrates, the way into the pyramid involved passing through an archway small enough to crawl through.
A Discovery That Would Change The World’s Perception
When the average person is asked to name an ancient Egyptian, the first name that usually comes to mind is King Tut. However, it’s unlikely that the pharaoh Tutankhamun’s name was well-known outside of Egypt before 1922.
That was the year that British archaeologist Howard Carter (pictured left) discovered the famous boy king’s tomb. Since it was much easier to bring a camera on site by the early 20th century than before, we can actually see man himself emerge from the tomb with a box of artifacts.
The Discovery of Old Kingdom-Era Graves
Once the mysteries inside the pyramids themselves were uncovered, archaeologists started taking to the surrounding area to uncover more artifacts and ancient skeletons. In 1950, archaeologists working in El Qatta, Egypt, discovered skeletal remains that were as ancient as it gets there.
This is just one of the graves they excavated, which contained a skeleton in the fetal position and surrounded by jars from the Archaic Period that contained wheat and alabaster. The graves dated back to the Old Kingdom — when the pyramids were being built — which means this person could have died as far back as 3,000 BCE.
They’re Still Discovering Pyramids
While many Egyptians would no doubt chuckle at the idea of anyone “discovering” something as large as the Great Pyramid of Giza, it is nonetheless true that there were pyramids even they didn’t know about.
Although some pyramids like the great one has plainly stood for thousands of years, others weren’t quite so impressively constructed. That’s why only some foundational blocks remain of this former pyramid that was discovered in 1995.
Archaeologists Find Out Whose Pyramid It Was
When this photo was taken, French archaeologist Jean Leclant not only provided a closer look of these pyramid ruins near Sakkara, Egypt, but explained what he and his team had learned about it.
Despite its state of disrepair, the structure they found still had some inscriptions that revealed its purpose. Not only did it turn out to be 4,000-years-old but it was built to honor Queen Meritites, the daughter or granddaughter of Pharaoh Pepi I.
Yet Another Uncovered Pyramid
This photo from 2008 depicts Egypt’s former minister of culture Faruq Hosni (left) and the Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass as they crouch along the ruins of a newly discovered pyramid.
It was found at an ancient burial ground in Saqqara, which dates back to 2,700 BCE. The pyramid itself is about 4,300-years-old and its base was discovered about 67 feet underground. It was built for Queen Sesheshet, the mother of King Teti.
Some Exciting But Grisly Discoveries
While new discoveries in Egypt typically concern previously unseen tombs and pyramids, archaeologists will sometimes find skeletal remains that have remarkably well-preserved. Such was the case when they came across an ancient necropolis bearing these skulls.
They were discovered at Egypt’s Fayyum oasis southeast of the Lahun pyramid field and the necropolis featured 53 tombs that were constructed up to hundreds of years apart.
Even The Hieroglyphs Have Survived The Sands Of Time
Although the Great Pyramid of Giza is an obvious landmark, that doesn’t mean that it’s without nearby secrets even in the present day. After all, people in Egypt have found newly discovered tombs close to the Giza complex as recently as 2018.
That’s when this photo was taken and it captures a mural adorning a newly discovered tomb. Its inscriptions were incredibly rare and reveal that the tomb belonged to a priestess alive during the Pharaonic Fifth Dynasty.
A Carefully-Maintained And Adorable Statuette
While it’s fair to say that most major Egyptian discoveries have a morbid quality to them, not everything that archaeologists uncover there has to do with the death of ancient, prominent Egyptians.
Although this wasn’t the artifact recovered near the King Userkaf pyramid complex, this little cat figure certainly stands out. It and tis fellow unearthed artifacts were discovered in late 2018.
A Hazard Can Also Be A Reason To Celebrate
One feature of ancient pyramids that makes them treacherous to navigate are the burial shafts that ancient Egyptians would use to transfer sarcophagi to their proper resting places.
This excavation worker is working in one of those burial shafts as she carefully brushes an ancient coffin. Apparently, this was only one of several burial shafts and tombs discovered at the Giza pyramid complex in 2019.
Careful, Painstaking Work With Each Discovery
Since several new burial shafts were discovered in 2019, this excavation worker was doing similarly careful work in a completely different one. In this case, he was focusing on the inscriptions on its wall.
Unfortunately, what these hieroglyphs actually said wasn’t shared. At the same time, it’s not necessarily this person’s job to know that. Instead, he’s ensuring it’s nice and clear for someone who can interpret it.
The Biggest Giza Discovery in Recent Memory
Naturally, the discovery of this sizable collection of burial shafts and tombs around the Giza pyramid complex meant the discovery of even more ornate sarcophagi like this one.
The structure is made from finely colored wood and since the tomb it was found in was intended for who priests who died around 2,500 BCE, it’s likely that one of those priests was laid inside this sarcophagus.
Discovered Artifacts Often End Up In Places Like This
Although this photo was taken in 2016, the only real difference between it and ones taken later concerns what the people at this restoration laboratory in Giza are carefully working on.
In this case, archaeologist Mohamed Anwar was restoring the second of King Khufu’s ancient solar boats, which were discovered in 1954. Funnily enough, the people who found it had only intended to embark on a routine cleaning of the Great Pyramid of Giza’s southern side.
