Egypt's top 10 archaeological discoveries
Al Ahram Weekly (Zahi Hawass)
I am not the one who put this discovery in the number two spot on the list of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in Egypt. This was done by Atlantic Productions when they compiled their list for their Discovery Channel. I feel privileged, however, to have been a part of the discovery of the cemetery of the pyramid builders, which has shown the world for the first time that the Pyramids were not built by slaves but by the ancient Egyptians themselves. I am honoured my name is connected with its discovery.
The story began when I wrote in my doctoral dissertation for the University of Pennsylvania that the workmen's area logically should be located behind a certain limestone wall with a gate built into it. I said that this wall, known as Heit Al-Ghorab (wall of the crow), was built to separate the royal Pyramids from the workmen who built them. I gave evidence in my dissertation to support my theory. In 1987, I talked with my friend Mark Lehner, and we decided to cooperate and work together in the area to the south of the wall. The excavation was very strange, because we found skeletons and also grain. Work on the excavation stopped, and Mark left to teach in Chicago, staying away from Giza for a few years.
See the above page for the full story.
- Who Built The Pyramids?
Ahram Online (Zahi Hawass) “Who built the pyramids?” This is a question that the public still asks me even today. My continuing discoveries at the site of the tombs of the pyramid builders at Giza (first found in 1990) clearly demonstrate that these...
- 400 Impoverished Burials Found At Giza
Unreported Heritage News (Owen Jarus) Owen Jarus has reported on findings announced at the Atlanta conference, which he attended. Great story Owen! At a scholarly conference in Atlanta archaeologists announced that the burials of 400 people – dating...
- Who Built The Pyramids?
Em Hotep I missed this back in February but better late than never! First of a three part look at the question of who built the pyramids (next two parts yet to be posted). With photographs. Here's the introduction: In the first part of January the...
- In The Field: More About Giza Tombs
Egypt State Information Service A collection of tombs that belong to workers who built Khufu's pyramid has been discovered in the area of the workmen's tombs on the Giza plateau, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announced on Sunday 10/1/2010. Hosni...
- Zahi Hawass Dig Days - Khufu's Barque
Al Ahram Weekly A personal account by Zahi Hawass of the Khufu solar barque story, in the context of a show being filmed for the Discovery Channel: Any two lists of the top 10 archaeological discoveries in Egypt would be different in only one or two...