Harmakis Edizioni
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ZAHI HAWASS
MAGIC OF THE
PYRAMIDS MY ADVENTURES IN ARCHEOLOGY
Copyight © Zahi Hawass 2015 Copyight © Harmakis Edizioni 2015 All rights on this book are reserved by the author. Without the written permission of the author, you may not copy, print, or distribute all or parts of this work in any format. This includes audio, digital or any other medium currently in use or not yet invented and also any form of streaming of the above. All rights on this book are reserved by Harmakis Edizioni Division S.E.A. Servizi Editoriali Avanzati, Registered office in Via Del Mocarini, 11 - 52025 Montevarchi (AR) ITALY Headquarters the same aforementioned. www.harmakisedizioni.org info@harmakisedizioni.org Typography: Universal Book ISBN: 978 88 98301 20 1 Finished printing in September 2015
Editing: Sue D’Auria © Layout and graphic processing: Sara Barbagli
To Mark Lehner: for our Great Friendship and his love to the study of the pyramids.
INTRODUCTION When the Arab travellers came to Egypt in the ninth century AD and saw the pyramids, they said: “Man fears time and time fears pyramids.� Pyramids fascinate people all over the world who still wonder about their function and construction. We as scholars have studied the pyramids and their sites intensively in order to reveal such information as the discovery of the tombs of the pyramid builders as well as major discoveries both inside and outside the pyramids. However, in contrast to these academic and scientific investigations undertaken by Egyptological experts, there are other studies that have been done by people who are unqualified in the field and that often present outlandish conclusions. A goal of this book is to present the results of scientific studies that can also debunk the more absurd conclusions that sometimes appear in print. In this introduction, I would like to present some of my many adventures in the pyramids. The Sphinx Cried Twice The Pyramids of Giza are sacred and divine. We come to Giza to learn about history, about a great people and what they achieved. But when it comes to a pop concert performed in front of the pyramids and Sphinx, I call this destruction and site pollution. A few years ago I said just this, when I heard that an Egyptian who had made his home in New York was planning to bring well-known
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singers over to perform in front of the Sphinx. At that time, many people agreed with me, but others who worked in tourism argued that performances by famous singers would help promote Egypt abroad, and that the publicity it generated would stimulate tourism. It is my firm belief, however, that tourism is the greatest enemy of archaeology. Mass tourism causes harm to ancient monuments, which have weathered thousands of years only to witness their greatest damage in the last century. UNESCO has organized conferences in many countries to heighten awareness of what mass tourism can do to archaeological sites. It has been said that unless there are drastic changes, we can expect that many sites will have been irrevocably destroyed within two hundred years. In 1977, when I was a young archaeologist, I attended a Grateful Dead concert staged in front of the Sphinx. A huge crowd of ten thousand young people was standing, shouting, screaming, and drinking beer, and I even saw some foreigners smoking drugs. The sound of their music was so loud that I could feel the stones of the pyramids vibrate and the fragile rock of the Sphinx shake. I felt how sad the Sphinx must be that day, and how appalled that his descendants would violate his sacred precincts with such a cacophony. But the Sphinx kept silent, and only ten years later, when a big chunk of stone fell from his right shoulder, did the public become aware of the danger he was in. The world was shocked, and its press descended on Egypt to report on the tragedy. Many experts argued that it was the water table and rain that caused this damage, but I knew the truth: the Sphinx was suffering from what we were doing to him. Residents of Nazlet el-Samman had built their houses a mere fifteen meters away from him; water and sewage were seeping into the bedrock and infiltrating his body. An antiquities director, now retired, had given permission for some amateurs to knock on the Sphinx’s body while using ultrasound, and for the Grateful Dead to give a concert at his very feet. We never learn. Two decades later, a letter fell on my desk asking
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for permission for Sting to sing in front the Sphinx. We sent a letter to the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Gaballa A. Gaballa, and we denied permission and gave our reasons. Our opinion was respected. But when the organizer of the show couldn’t get authorization for the performance on archaeologically protected land, he decided to hold it in front of the Sound and Light Theater, which belongs to the Sound and Light Company. The organizer sold fifteen thousand tickets before it became clear that the theater, filled to capacity, could hold only three thousand spectators. The overflow, the concert organizers decided, would have to be accommodated on the area north of the Sound and Light building, which, needless to say, is land belonging to the Antiquities Department. The Egyptian Tourist Authority wanted the concert; the Egyptian antiquities authorities refused. A few hours before the scheduled opening, the latter were obliged to give way. About fifteen thousand concertgoers, most of them young people in their teens and twenties, packed the area. Many could not even enter the plateau because it was so crowded, and there was no crowd control. Sting started to sing, and the vibration of the music echoing from the gigantic speakers shook the ground. The spectators jumped around in time with the music, the sound reverberated, and every stone of the pyramids, not to mention the Sphinx, suffered. At midnight, one of my students called me and said, “Dr. Zahi, you taught us to preserve the monuments, and I cannot understand how you gave permission for this.� I was glad to hear that just then the concert finished. I did not go. I have not forgotten that first scene, two decades ago, when this magical site was transformed into an anthropoid zoo. I had no desire to repeat the experience. The next day, I went to the Sphinx and walked around to see if anything had befallen the statue. I searched his face for anger; I was afraid that what happened in 1988 could happen again, that another large section of the ancient monument could fall down. I do not object to antiquities sites being used for cultural
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performances, such as the opera Aida, which is in keeping with the dignity of this sacred site. Certainly the audiences of such performances are easier to manage than the crowds at a pop concert. However, what is done is done; but we should think carefully before we ever allow something like this to happen again. I don’t want to hear the Sphinx crying again. I hope that this time he will forgive us. Meanwhile, we have found another site for rock performances and similar events, west of the pyramids. The Sphinx can sleep in peace. Adventure in the Bent Pyramid When I was teaching at the American University in Cairo in 1988, I once told my students that we would share an adventure. We were going inside a pyramid that had been entered by only a few Egyptologists. Even some of the distinguished scholars specializing in the pyramid field had not entered it. We met in front of the pharaoh Snefru’s “Bent Pyramid” at Dahshur, and I explained its history and archaeology. My class was surprised and delighted when we met Rainer Stadelmann, the former director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo. Rainer, who ranks among the finest of scholars, has dedicated his life to excavating around this pyramid and has made many interesting discoveries, among them the oldest capstone of the North Pyramid of Snefru, sometimes called the Red Pyramid. I told my students that Rainer was one of the few archaeologists with a profound knowledge of the pyramids and, let me add, he has also made solid friendships with many Egyptians. “Why does Snefru have four pyramids?” asked one of my students. “Rainer can give you a better answer than I can,” I replied. Rainer explained that the first pyramid Snefru built was at Sila in the Fayoum. This did not have a burial chamber, and most scholars believe the pyramid, built behind the king’s palace, must represent the primeval mound of Egyptian mythology. Snefru then started building a second pyramid in Meidum as a “step pyramid” but, for reasons unknown,
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he did not finish it. (Many scholars, incidentally, still believe that this pyramid belonged to Huni, the last king of the Third Dynasty.) He subsequently went to Dahshur and there built the “Bent Pyramid”—the original angle of 54° 31’ 13” was later changed to 43° 21’. After this he moved north and built the first “true pyramid” in Egypt, the North Pyramid. Finally, he returned to Meidum and completed the structure there as a true pyramid. We now believe that Snefru ruled for more than fifty-four years. We eagerly anticipated our adventure: twelve young students about to enter the Bent Pyramid for the first time. We reached the entrance, a height of 11.8 meters. I climbed in first, with my famous hat on my head, followed by my students. We entered a tunnel about 80 meters long and only 1.10 meters high. Hot and sweaty, we had to double over as we made our way to the corbelled room. Once inside, I thought of Abdel-Salam Hussein, the first engineer who cleaned and worked inside the pyramid, in the 1940s. He believed there were secret chambers yet to be discovered. I warned my students in advance that, in order to reach the floor of the lower burial chamber, we had to climb 6.25 meters up the south wall on wooden stairs that were very difficult to negotiate. I thought one or two might opt out. But no, in unison they proclaimed that they wanted to go on. We found two tunnels leading from the south wall to a shaft that did not lead anywhere. We also saw another tunnel extending from the floor up to about 12 meters. This led to another tunnel running eastwest. We went to the east and found a portcullis in the room of another burial chamber. We were surprised to find cedar-wood beams. This was a mystery to us. A student asked if Snefru might have procured this wood this wood from Byblos in ancient Lebanon. We had another surprise when we felt what the explorers Vyse and Perring had also noticed on October 15, 1839. Cool air was coming from the interior of the pyramid and appeared to flow towards its exit. This may be evidence that one of the chambers is connected to the exterior
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of the pyramid. Our great archaeologist, the late Ahmed Fakhry, noticed this too, and speculated that another part of the interior of the pyramid had yet to be discovered. The inside of the Bent Pyramid is different from all others. It was a thrill to share such an experience with the enthusiastic students. “We will never forget our adventure inside the Bent Pyramid,” one of them said. As for me, I certainly couldn’t forget our adventure, because after all that climbing I couldn’t move my legs for three days. The Untold Story of the Solar Boat Egyptology is an exciting and rewarding field, and every major find has a story. The discovery of the Solar Boat of Khufu in 1954 is one of the most interesting. At that time, Mohamed Zaki Nour was chief inspector of antiquities at Giza, and Kamal El-Mallakh was a young architect of the Antiquities Department. The south side of the Great Pyramid was then obscured by debris to a height of 7 meters, but the idea of removing it came only after a visit by King Saud of Saudi Arabia, who commented on the debris during a visit to Giza. El-Mallakh, being an ambitious and energetic young man, set workmen to the task. The chief of the “diggers” was Garas Yani, an Upper Egyptian who had been trained by some of the best foreign archaeologists. Also on the team were George Reisner from Harvard and the German archaeologist Hermann Junker. In July 1954, Garas uncovered several huge limestone blocks lying flush with ground level. It was obvious to him that they covered a large pit. In great excitement, he went to look for El-Mallakh, and found him in a downtown Cairo café with his close friends Anis Mansour and Maurice Guindi, the latter a correspondent for United Press International. As Mansour relates the scene, Yani was bursting with excitement and said: “Mr. El-Mallakh, we have found the boat of Khufu!”
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Whether from the advantage of hindsight, or an inspired guess at the time, El-Mallakh said he was convinced from the first that the south enclosure wall had been built closer to the pyramid’s base than the northern and western walls precisely to conceal one or more boat pits, and that Yani knew this. Be that as it may, the announcement caused great excitement, and the group left the café in haste, jumped in a car, and headed for Giza. Mansour recalls that the car broke down on the Pyramids Road from overheating. “The curse of the Pharaohs!” he said. When El-Mallakh arrived at the site, he found that the forty-one limestone blocks seemed to be supported on a meter-wide shelf, and he broke through a massive slab to reveal a deep vault beneath his feet. His excitement grew, and his whole face lit up with a smile as he realized that what lay inside was a boat, and that, moreover, it appeared to be in a remarkable state of preservation. For the first time in 4,500 years the sun shone on the timbers of a great cedar-wood vessel. Guindi lost no time in publishing an article through his agency, UPI, and the New York Times ran story after story of the discovery of “the Solar Boat.” Meanwhile, El-Mallakh embarked on a lecture tour of the United States to talk about the discovery. Ever charismatic, the now famous El- Mallakh shared his passion for Egypt with academic audiences, and also gave television and radio appearances. He was a great success. When El-Mallakh returned to Egypt, Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, the political writer, convinced President Nasser that the site was worth a visit. Together with an entourage of military officers, Nasser went. He listened as El-Mallakh explained the discovery and its significance. Mansour, who was there, heard Nasser say to El-Mallakh: “I came to encourage you!” At this point, the evil nemesis, the ancient god Seth, decided to churn things up. It would seem he almost never leaves us alone! El-Mallakh was criticized for publishing the discovery without the permission of the Antiquities Department, and fifteen days’ salary was cut from his monthly pay package. Then Nour, the Giza inspector, claimed that he
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should have had credit for the discovery. Meanwhile, Abdel-Moneim Abu Bakr, dean of the department of Egyptology at Cairo University, wrote an article outlining six points to support his theory that the vessel was not a solar boat at all, but a funerary barge that was built to transport the body of the deceased king from the capital, Memphis, to the pyramid site. I have reviewed all of Abu Bakr’s notes and do not find enough evidence to support his theory. In fact, during excavation of the boat, shavings of cedar and acacia wood were found in the pit, along with traces of mud plaster covering the limestone blocks over the pit. In my opinion, this provides evidence that the boat was built close to where it was buried. There is, moreover, one indication that it was never used on the Nile. The deckhouse is not big enough for a comfortable journey; also, it did not have windows. Egyptology bestowed instant fame on El-Mallakh early in his career, because of his discovery of the so-called Solar Boat. He should, of course, have gained full credit for the unquestionably great discovery, but probably because he was an architect for the department rather than an archaeologist, he failed to receive his due. And that was when the trouble started. No doubt as a result of El-Mallakh’s natural charisma, combined with his pride in his achievement, he received much publicity in the foreign press, but this led to jealousy on the home front. Things became so difficult for El-Mallakh in the Antiquities Department that he was forced to leave. Needless to say, El-Mallakh continued to regard the vessel as a solar boat connected with the age-old myth of the sun-god eternally journeying across the heavens. Imagine his frustration when he left the Antiquities Department, and the boat that had given him instant fame was taken out of his hands. Believe me, he fought like a tiger and he eventually lost his life in the battle. When no longer involved in the project, he nevertheless continued to visit Giza to watch Hag Ahmed Youssef, chief restorer of the department, supervise the excavation and
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reconstruction of the oldest boat in the world. Limestone blocks covering the pit were lifted with great cranes, and a resinous solution was applied to the fragments of ancient matting so as to lift them without damage. A platform had to be built over the working area to enable Youssef to conduct operations without putting pressure on the boat itself. Youssef, almost single-handedly, spent fourteen years putting this giant jigsaw puzzle together. El-Mallakh could only watch from the sidelines. Kamal El-Mallakh was a truly remarkable man. When he died in 1987, Egypt lost one of its most beloved sons. His appearance - he resembled a pharaoh, tall and upright, with a high forehead and a receding hairline - made him stand out on Cairo’s crowded streets. Though he was forced out of the Antiquities Department, fortunately, he was not the kind of person to harbor grievances. He turned his attention to the field of journalism and became a reporter for Akher Saa (“The Last Hour”) magazine and Al-Akhbar (“The News”) newspaper. At this point he became a close friend of the famous writer Anis Mansour, and together they developed a warm fellowship and shared many adventures. How I enjoyed reading these in Mansour’s weekly Friday column, “Ayaman Al-Helwa” (“our good days”) in AlAhram. The two men, Kamal El-Mallakh and Anis Mansour, were the antithesis of one another. The former led an active social life and published little; the latter was not socially inclined - he considered taking to people a waste of time - and published more than two hundred books. They were friends and rivals; they competed with each other but were, in a sense, as inseparable as twins. Mansour, a Muslim, and ElMallakh, a Copt, forever teased one another and entered into intellectual arguments. Their special friendship will never be forgotten. When El-Mallakh joined the daily newspaper Al-Ahram and became the editor of its back page, he made it his own. Writing in as appealing style that became exclusively his, he was read by everyone. The headline was in his own handwriting, and his page became so popular that a large body of Al-Ahram readers began their day by reading the paper from
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the back. We could not wait to see what he wrote each day. He had imagination, talent, and an enormous interest in his own country, in Egypt’s heritage - especially Egyptology. In those days, not much was written on the subject, and he described discoveries in a simple language that everyone could understand. Because of him, Egyptians came to develop increased interest in the lives of the ancient Egyptians and in culture generally. He was a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge: in art, cinema, and theater. He pursued knowledge with the interest and enthusiasm that had earned him an undergraduate degree in architecture and his graduate study in Egyptology. Thanks to him, we have international film festivals in Cairo and Alexandria, and owing to his efforts a biennial world competition was launched in Alexandria, as well as the African film festival in Aswan. As young man, I looked up to Kamal El-Mallakh. I enjoyed listening to his short after-breakfast interviews on the radio during Ramadan. With his distinguished style and unique voice, he touched our hearts and showed us that we were descendants of the pharaohs. I met him at Giza when I was a young inspector of antiquities in the pyramids area, and he was on one of his frequent visits to his “baby, the solar boat.” (El-Mallakh never married. His relationship to his boat, however, was as a lioness protecting her cub.) I was very excited to meet this almost legendary figure. I could hardly believe that I was actually talking to Kamal El-Mallakh and shaking his hand. He greeted me with a big smile, and when he saw my enthusiasm and love of Egyptology, he ventured that I might someday make a name for myself in the field. He adopted me as a son and friend, gave me valuable advice, and encouraged me to document my work when I started excavating at Kom Abu Bellou in the Delta. He used to call me “the youthful archaeologist,” and I would visit him at his office at Al-Ahram every Friday. I remember the occasion when, as he was talking to me, a famous actress walked into the room. Anyone else might have jumped up to welcome her, but not El-Mallakh. He
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merely said. “Please come back in half an hour, I am now sitting with Zahi Hawass.” I could not believe my ears! From him I learned how to inspire and encourage young people interested in the field and to support their work. While I was studying at the University of Pennsylvania, I went to see El-Mallakh on one of my visits to Egypt, and he invited me to have lunch with him at Anis Mansour’s house at Shabramant in Giza. There I met, as well as Anis Mansour, other important personalities, including the writer Tawfik El-Hakim. The video camera just been invented, and El-Hakim was quite taken with it, happy to watch images of himself. He wanted to test his appearance, how he looked from one angle or another, and which was the most flattering. I remember how he would wiggle his mustache to see if it was noticeable on TV. Once I borrowed a car and went for a drive with El Mallakh, but we ran out of gas. As El-Mallakh helped me push the car to the side of the road, he was recognized by passers-by who could hardly believe that so important a man would stoop to such a chore! He had such charm and modesty and introduced me to so many influential people, including Gamal Mokhtar, the former director of the Egyptian Antiquities Organization. I would listen to their discussions for hours on end. Toward the end of El-Mallakh’s life, the Antiquities Department gave permission for National Geographic to investigate the second boat pit at Giza, and he was upset not to be included on the team. He fought for his rights, but to no avail. He used to go to bed early, and one night he called me at 9 pm and talked about the slight for two hours, his voice reflecting a great sadness. I left Egypt for Denver, Colorado in the United States the following day to attend the opening of the Ramesses II exhibition in Denver. Imagine my shock when I was awakened one morning by a telephone call from Dorothea, the wife of his brother Ragaa, who said: “El-Mallakh is dead.” I cried for two hours; my sorrow was even greater than on the death of my own father. During my tenure as director of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, I gave permission to Waseda University to work on the conservation
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of the second boat pit. The wood of the first pit was restored by Hag Ahmed Youssef, and now the boat is in a museum located to the south of the Great Pyramid. On the stones that were located inside the second pit, they found cartouches of Khufu and his son Djedefre, as well as marks that tell us dates of the construction of the pit. Promoting Pyramid Secrets “Secret doors” were identified in the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza by Rudolf Gantenbrink in 1993. As archaeologists, we were extremely excited by this discovery. Although we did not expect to discover a hidden treasure nor even uncover any of the pyramid’s secrets, it was clear that strong media coverage would give us an opportunity to let the public know more about the pyramids and their builders. A two-hour television program about the doors and other discoveries at Giza was planned during prime time in the United States, at 8 pm on network TV. It was also scheduled to be shown live world-wide on the National Geographic channel - in China alone, more than half a billion people tuned in. The National Geographic arranged a promotional tour around the world for American Egyptologist Mark Lehner and myself, to familiarize more people about facts known, and unknown, about the Great Pyramid. Due to my busy schedule and office obligations, I was only able to go to Hong Kong and Singapore. It was my first time to travel to this part of the world. Ward Platt, the head of the National Geographic in Hong Kong, arranged a press conference for me. All of the journalists were eager to learn about a sealed sarcophagus that had recently been found at Giza, and they asked whether we expected to find a mummy inside it. They were referring to the tomb of a man called Nesut-Wesret found on the necropolis, in which one of the shafts contained a sarcophagus 120 cm long and 35 cm wide. It had been broken, and there was evidence that it was restored with mortar during the Old Kingdom.
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I explained that Nesut-Wesret was not a rich man; that he was an overseer of workmen and as such could not afford elaborate mummification. I pointed out in the Fourth Dynasty (about 4,500 years ago), mummification had not been perfected and that, in fact, we do not have any complete mummy that dates from that period. All we have, I told them, was a part of the left foot that may belong to the Third Dynasty King Djoser, found inside the Step Pyramid. During his excavations at Giza, George Reisner of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, had discovered skulls and skeletons inside the tombs of the officials and princes at Giza - but no Fourth Dynasty mummy. In fact, the only intact Old Kingdom mummy found so far was in the Fifth Dynasty tomb of Nefer at Saqqara. Hence, I explained, the best we could hope for in the case of Nesut-Wesret would be a skeleton. I added that beer jars and pottery vessels were also discovered inside his tomb, along with two skeletons inside the tomb’s shaft, one lying beside the other. The first one belonged to a person who may have been a friend or an assistant to Nesut-Wesret and who wanted to be buried beside him. The second was the skeleton of a dog. After X-raying the human skeleton, we found that it was of a 35-year-old man who probably died during a fight, because there is evidence that he fractured his hand and that this injury caused his death. The reporters in Hong Kong, far from being disappointed, became more excited. As to the secret door inside the Great Pyramid, they anxiously asked what could we expect to find. I told them that we, like them, were eager to know. But even if we found nothing, that in itself would be important, and I added that I personally did not believe there was anything to be found. However, there are those that believe that a book written by Khufu, as mentioned by an Egyptian priest, lay behind the door; or a papyrus text that tells us how the pyramids were constructed. But we never know what the sands of Egypt will reveal, I added to keep them guessing! During my two-day trip in the Far East, I met more than thirty TV and newspaper representatives and realized the extent to which the
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idea of live TV coverage had captured attention and fostered interest. Wherever I went, I saw posters and advertisements promoting the event: “Tune to the National Geographic channel on your TV and see Ancient Egypt: Chamber Revealed.” While there, I gave a half-hour talk about the pyramid’s secrets, and Mark Lehner a presentation about the Great Pyramid and major recent discoveries at Giza, including a village and the administration zone of the pyramid builders, as well as the tombs of the construction workers. The presentations were well received and all expressed an interest to visit Egypt and experience its mystery and magic. The results of the investigation of the “secret doors” can be found in a later chapter of this book. A Healthy Diet As we continue to understand more about the lives of the pyramid builders through discoveries of both their tombs and settlements at Giza, an ever more remarkable picture emerges. During the construction of the pyramids, when seventy per cent of the population worked on the massive monuments on a rotation basis, the workmen slept in galleries and woke before sunrise. There was a strict system of organization. The workers would leave for work in orderly files, marching one in front of the other towards Heit El-Ghurab (the Wall of the Crow), then entering the work area through the middle gate and proceeding towards the quarry. The work force consisted of two thousand workmen, divided into two gangs of one thousand each. These were further divided into phyles (a Greek word meaning “tribe”), consisting of two hundred workmen, which were subdivided into smaller gangs of either ten or twenty workmen. Each gang and phyle had an overseer and had names such as “Friends of Khufu” or “Drunkards of Menkaure.” When working at Giza, I often sense their presence, can visualize
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the ancient workers and imagine their thoughts. Perhaps they were quiet in the early morning, thinking of the hard day of work ahead. I doubt that all were happy to labor on a monument dedicated to the rebirth of the king. Quite likely, many of the men who made their way towards the quarry wished to be at home with their families, and were perhaps more concerned with their own problems than Pharaoh’s Great Pyramid. Each worker would stop at the storage area where government tools were kept before entering through the Heit El-Ghurab. Each was given a tool for which he was required to sign a receipt; he received this again at the end of the day upon returning the tool. The location and distribution of the tools were strictly regulated. We know from the workmen’s community at Deir El-Medineh, which housed the builders of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, that the tools used were hammers, axes, and stone balls made of diorite and flint. The workers were young men recruited from their villages to participate in a national project, supported by the households of Upper and Lower Egypt. We believe that the total number of workmen was between ten thousand and twenty thousand, not one hundred thousand as estimated by Herodotus, the “father of history,” who wrote about Egypt in the fifth century BC. Mark Lehner found facilities for baking bread near the galleries, and I can imagine how the smell of the fresh bread filled the air. We used to believe that the worker’s diet consisted of onions, garlic, and bread, and that they drank beer daily. Now we know that they also ate meat and that bolti fish, a Nile fish popular among workmen, also formed a regular part of their diet. Fish bones were discovered in an area near the bakeries, and a bronze fishhook, similar to the hooks used by Nile fishermen to this day, was also found. Excavation around the settlement area at Giza continues to yield evidence of the workers’ daily lives. Certainly the workers were kept healthy with a diet that included sheep, goats, cattle, salted fish, garlic, onions, bread, and beer. We were surprised to unearth pottery vessels imported from Palestine, which told us that the workers were also given
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olive oil imported from Western Asia. Meeting Mark Lehner You can sometimes have a brother who is not of your blood. I would like you to meet my brother Mark Lehner, the famous American archaeologist who has been excavating at Giza for the past twenty years. His specialty is pyramids, and his contributions have been many. We met as young men, and in many ways one could say we grew up together, excavating, working, and lecturing all over the world. This is why I have dedicated this book to him. We first met at a party at the house of a mutual friend in 1974. He had come all the way from his home state of North Dakota to study for a year at the American University in Cairo (AUC). He was a quiet person: he told me only that he was interested in Egyptology, and I invited him to my office at the pyramids. I was then a young archaeologist, 27 years old, and my hair was black, not white as it is now. Mark responded to my invitation. He told me he was studying anthropology at AUC, but he said that before we could become friends he had to tell me a story. This he said, concerned a man named Edgar Cayce, known in the United States as the “sleeping prophet.” Cayce was a humble photographer by trade, but he had another talent: he used to close his eyes, undo his necktie, go into a trance, and give medical prescriptions that were sometimes accepted by physicians in America, despite the fact that Cayce was a psychic and not a doctor. When Edgar’s son Hugh Lynn sadly became blind, Cayce took him to every available specialist. All was in vain - no cure could be found. But Cayce succeeded where the doctors had failed. He asked his son to open his eyes, and by a miracle he could see. Mark continued his story, telling me that on one occasion when he was asked about the past, Cayce closed his eyes and related that he had been living in Egypt at the time when the legendary Atlantis was
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destroyed. He said that his name had been Ra-Ta, and that the people of that time collected all the knowledge and technology from the lost continent and placed it in a Hall of Records under the Sphinx. Cayce said this knowledge was used to build the Great Pyramid at Giza, and that the plans were then buried under the Sphinx’s right paw. “I came to Egypt at the expense of the Cayce Foundation to investigate this story,” Mark said. “The first thing I did was to enroll at the American University to study anthropology.” How could someone from North Dakota come to Egypt to explore a legend and end up as a professor at the University of Chicago and a respected authority on pyramids? This is part of our adventure together in archaeology. I told Mark that no one could possibly believe this story, because it had no scientific basis. He said that nevertheless, thousands of people in America did believe it, and he told me about the foundation at Virginia Beach headed by Hugh Lynn Cayce. I had recently graduated from the Greek and Roman Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Alexandria University, and as a young archaeologist, I naturally received the story with skepticism. It was an American hallucination, I thought. In 1975, Hugh Lynn Cayce arrived in Egypt, and Mark introduced us. He firmly believed what his father said about the past. Mark, though, admitted that his beliefs about the past were changing as a result of his experience with history and archaeology at Giza and his studies of ancient Egypt as a whole, but he was under pressure from the Cayce Foundation. I witnessed a night when Hugh Lynn and more than three hundred supporters were given permission to meditate inside the Great Pyramid. We organized a conference by such scholars as Ahmed El-Sawi and the late Nasif Hassan, who gave talks on Egyptology and Egyptian history. Of course, we did not succeed in changing their minds. The whole group still believed that the Hall of Records was located under the right paw of the Sphinx. Later, members of the Stanford Research Institute from Menlo Park, California, looked under the right paw of the Sphinx with remote
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sensing equipment. They claimed there was an anomaly, and asked the Egyptian Antiquities Organization for permission to drill into the paw. Though they did the drilling, their mission was unsuccessful: no Hall of Records was found. I thought that was the end of the story, but the Cayce group did not lose hope. They still believed that the secrets of Atlantis were somewhere near the Sphinx. Two years later Mark and I went on a lecture tour of ten or so sites in the United States. The tour was interesting because Mark had been studying Egyptology, and had come to believe the Cayce story was a myth. I provided evidence that the Sphinx dated from the reign of Khafre and said there was no evidence at all of a lost civilization. The Sphinx still provokes powerful legends. With the strong face of a pharaoh and the body of a lion, a cobra on his forehead and wearing the nemes headdress, it represents the power of kingship. In ancient Egypt, the Sphinx was a symbol of the nation. Mark and I continued our respective careers in archaeology. First I went for my PhD at the University of Pennsylvania, and later Mark studied for his PhD under William Kelly Simpson at Yale. We continued to lecture and discuss ancient Egypt - especially the Sphinx and the Pyramids - with all kinds of people, both large audiences and small groups of close friends. Mark has become a hardened skeptic and critic of so-called “New Age� ideas. The Five Secret Chambers The Great Pyramid of Khufu, standing in splendor or the Giza necropolis, has always stirred the imagination and the wonder of people from far and wide. Through the ages, it has been a fascinating topic, and non-professionals, time and again, have come up with imaginative stories about its construction: it was built by the inhabitants of the lost continent of Atlantis, they said, or by people from outer space. They have given public lectures in which they claim that the only evidence that the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu built the Great Pyramid is
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graffiti found in the five chambers located above the King’s Chamber. This graffiti, they maintain, was written not by the workmen who built the pyramid, but by scholars and adventurers who entered the pyramid in the nineteenth century. In other words, it is modern graffiti. These “pyramidiots,” as I like to call them, stressed that the chambers were unique, and that because no similar chamber chambers have been found in any other pyramid, it is indisputable proof that the Great Pyramid was not built by the ancient Egyptians! Unfortunately, the general lay public is easy prey, and the pyramidiots have always found a ready audience. Their interpretations are interesting, exciting, and romantic, if scientifically unsound. Who would not rather listen to a fairy tale than the often-tedious scientific facts of the scholars? The trouble is that the fairy tales spread like a disease over the Internet! Sometimes, however, new facts come to light and the truth can be told. Some years ago we temporarily closed the Great Pyramid to carry out conservation and improve the ventilation system. During the exercise, we started to clear the five chambers of accumulated rubble. Halfway through, news spread that Egyptologists were secretly digging inside the pyramid; that one of the inspectors had found a piece of papyrus confirming that the Great Pyramid was built by Atlantis; and that, moreover, I personally had taken possession of the text, hidden it, and then fired the inspector who was witness to the event! As soon as the pyramid was open to the public once again, I told the students in my class that we were going on an adventure inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu, and that we would enter the five chambers in question. I made sure that we had a digital camera to record all we saw inside the chambers, and a sturdy ladder for our perhaps hazardous adventure. The chambers are about four meters above the entrance of the main burial chamber in Khufu’s pyramid, which itself has no parallel. It consists of nine huge granite slabs, each weighing about forty tons, and above the flat ceiling are five separate rooms; we call them the
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“relieving chambers.” With my gang of enthusiastic followers, I entered the Great Pyramid and passed through the Grand Gallery until we reached the entrance of the King’s Chamber. You could feel the excitement in the air. I led the way, and we started to climb the ladder until we reached the first of the upper chambers. The ceilings of the first four rooms are flat, while the fifth has a pointed ceiling. It was a dusty, difficult climb. I believe that the purpose of constructing the chambers was to eliminate any risk of the ceiling of the king’s chamber collapsing under the weight of the superincumbent masonry. My companions were close beside me as I pointed out some of the ancient graffiti, which read: “Friends of Khufu.” This is one of the names used by members of the crew who built the pyramid. I also showed them the sign of life, the sign for pyramid, and an inscription that reads “Year 17 of Khufu’s reign.” Behind one of the blocks I pointed out one of the most interesting markings that could only have been made by one of the workmen engaged in moving the stone. The students were in awe and wonder in the face of the indisputable evidence of ancient Egyptian graffiti. It was a jolt to see the enthusiasm of my students, sweaty and dirty, intently examining the rocks. They leaped around like gazelles, and one teased me: “You are getting old, Dr. Hawass!” They gathered around me when I said I had some good news for them. “Today,” I informed them, “the French team working inside the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur found three relieving chambers above the main corridor. The chambers inside this pyramid are not unique. They are an architectural feature of others. The pyramidiots have not had the final word.” My students laughed soundly. Their delight echoed through the Grand Gallery until the sound seemed to take on a life of its own. However, this has not stopped unscrupulous people from continuing to propose outrageous theories. One concerns a person who shall remain unnamed, who wrote a book dating the Great Pyramid to fifteen
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thousand years ago. He hired a German individual to come to Egypt. With the help of an inspector at the pyramid of Khufu, whom they paid 29,000 Euros, they entered the pyramid and with a ladder made by the inspector, climbed up to the five chambers above the King’s Chamber. They illegally took a sample from the cartouche of Khufu in the fifth room of the five chambers. Based on the agreement with the unnamed person, the German took the sample to a lab in Germany and claimed that the result indicated that the sample dated to fifteen thousand years ago. However, the writer of this book was ignorant. He did not know that the red paint was called “mafet,� and the Egyptians brought it from a quarry in the western desert. The quarry could be fifteen thousand years old. But it has nothing to do with the date of the pyramid. A court case resulted in Egypt, and the court sentenced all of the people involved (the German was convicted in absentia) to prison for five years. However, the story does not end there. The German man sent an email to the lawyers of the Egyptian criminals stating that Zahi Hawass had given him permission in 2006 to take a sample from the pyramid, something that I would never do. The judge in the case asked the Attorney General to investigate this charge against me. The Attorney General found that all these allegations were not true, and the case was closed. This book will explain my adventures, both inside and outside the Giza pyramids, and is about all the discoveries I have made at this incredible site.