 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 3 - 9 June 1999 Issue No. 432
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Interview Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Symbolic tomb discovered in Giza
By Nevine El-ArefHerodotus, the Greek historian who travelled widely in Egypt and devoted the second volume of his immortal History to describing its monuments, people and religious practices, was not always regarded as the most trustworthy of sources. Therefore, it is particularly interesting that excavations by modern archaeologists confirm some of his early observations. This is what happened last week when an Egyptian mission working at Giza entered Osiris burial shaft in the area between the Sphinx and the pyramid of Khafre.
"Its location was long known among Egyptologists," said Zahi Hawass, director-general of the Giza Plateau. Hawass said, "The shaft is 30 metres deep leading to a large tomb where remains of limestone columns and a granite sarcophagus have been found surrounded with water."
Two days later, after cleaning the tomb and pumping out the water, the mission discovered that the tomb consisted of three levels. The first, at the top of the shaft, is an empty rock-hewn chamber.
The second was located underneath and is larger, containing a main hall with six small rock-hewn chambers on each side. Excavation revealed pottery and human bones in the main hall and two empty granite sarcophagi, each weighing 12 tons, in the side rooms. There is evidence that this level of the tomb dates back to the 26th Dynasty, the period during which Herodotus visited Egypt.
This symbolic "underwater" tomb, believed to be that of the legendary god of the underworld, Osiris, was discovered recently at Giza. The tomb has three levels below the ground
Excavations of the third level at the bottom of the shaft caused excitement. Hawass said the remains of four limestone columns with a large granite sarcophagus in the middle were found with the word Per, which means "(the) place", engraved on the ground.
Studies on the lowest level reveal that it was constructed much earlier than the other two levels (during the 18th Dynasty) and it is likely, in the opinion of Hawass, to have been the first symbolic tomb constructed at Giza in honour of the legendary ancestor Osiris who, during the New Kingdom, was known as the Lord of the Underworld. Hawass explained the significance of water. As it surrounded the sarcophagus and was associated with rebirth (of the land each year and of the deceased in the afterlife), water's presence on the pyramid plateau, "suggests that the god Osiris protected the kings buried underneath their pyramids".
A small tunnel was found to the east of the lowest level, leading directly to the pyramid of Khufu. "This suggests that kings of the Late Period excavated this area in an effort to discover the underground tunnels which their ancestors mentioned," Hawass said. A small camera will be installed in this tunnel in an effort to learn more about it.
