Tombs of Giza: New ones discovered, and a startling finding about the builders

A collection of tombs that belong to workers who built Khufu’s pyramid (better known by his Greek name of Cheops) has been discovered on the Giza plateau, just outside of Cairo, Egypt.

The tombs were found by an Egyptian excavation team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). Dr. Hawass said that the tombs are dated to the 4th Dynasty and belong to workmen who built the pyramids of Khufu (2609-25840 BC) and Khafre (2576-2551 BC).

The new tombs are the ones built for the men who built the pyramids. And, as Dr. Hawass notes, these could not have been slaves. These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves. If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king’s, concluded Hawass.

What’s particularly cool, is that instead of relying on press releases for information on the discovery, interested parties can read Dr. Hawass’ actual blog entries.

Titles found in the tombs are of draftsmen, craftsmen, overseer of the workmen who move the stones, etc. The titles found and the location of the tombs so close to the pyramids, as well as their quality, indicate that the people buried there did, in fact, build the pyramids, and were most certainly not slaves. Slaves would not have been able to build their tombs so close to the tomb of their king. It is also clear that these people who built the pyramids were Egyptian, not from any lost civilization. notes Dr. Hawass.

These tombs were found near the far northern edge of the cemetery of the pyramid builders, on the edge of the plateau.

These overseer’s tombs are surrounded by shafts that contain the skeletons of the workmen who worked under the overseers.

So, they might have been freemen, but apparently the working conditions were so dangerous one wonders if at least some of the workers were conscripted against their better judgement.

Dr. Hawass believes that the tombs date to the reign of Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid.

Again, his blog provides a personal note. Dr. Hawass explains that the press asked questions about who built the pyramids and what this new discovery says about them. The two topics I was asked the most questions about were slaves building the pyramids, and whether the pyramid builders were Egyptian or not. My answer to the first is that there is no way the builders of the pyramids were slaves. The location of these tombs near the pyramids proves this, as there is no way slaves would have been allowed to build their tombs so close to the king. ...

The pyramid builders were clearly Egyptian. The tombs are in Egyptian style, and we have examined the bones of the pyramid builders, they were definitely Egyptian.