Hawass Reveals Details about Tombs of Pyramid Builders

Egyptologist Zahi Hawass met a high-ranking U.S. delegation in front of the tombs of the pyramid builders and disclosed new details about the tombs.

Hawass indicated that the mission found new tombs that date back to the Fourth Dynasty (2649-2513 BC), related to the workers who built the Great Pyramid.

Hawass also added that this was the first time that tombs belonging to King Khufu (2609-2584 BC), and King Khafre (2576-2551 BC) were discovered, noting that hundreds of other tombs, discovered before, date back to the late Fourth and Fifth Dynasties (2649-2374 BC).

In the same vein, Hawass stressed that the excavation of the builders’ tombs is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the 20th and 21st centuries he has made since 1990.

The Egyptologist affirmed that this discovery is considered one of the most significant discoveries as it sheds light on the early period of the Fourth Dynasty.

It also refutes claims that said the pyramids were built by forced labor as these tombs are located directly next to the pyramid and overlook it directly; so if those builders were slaves, they would not have built their tombs in this specific area.

Moreover, he explained that the most important of these tombs is an Edo cemetery, which is a rectangular building with many wells that were covered with limestone. The walls of the tombs were covered from the outside with a layer of mudbrick and painted with white mortar.

Finally, he reiterated the importance of these tombs because they give us a clear idea about the religious life of the builders, noting that this area is the beginning of the huge cemetery that spreads over a kilometer to the south of this discovery.

Contributed by Omnia Ahmed