Magic of the Pyramids E-Book

Zahi Hawass

• Herausgeber: Harmakis Edizioni
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

“World-renowned archaeologist Zahi Hawass. He is one of the world’s authorities on the Giza pyramids, and has spent his life excavating around the pyramids and the Sphinx. He made major important discoveries such as the tombs of the pyramid builders and the secret doors inside the pyramid of Khufu. Dr. Hawass has received fi ve honorary doctorates from different international universities and was named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People for the year2006 by Time Magazine. His adventures around the pyramids have been presented in many TV shows. In this book, you will feel the thrill and the adventures of the modern-day Indiana Jones.”

Leseprobe

Copyight © Zahi Hawass 2015

Copyight © Harmakis Edizioni 2015

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ISBN: 978-88-98301-33-1

Editing: Sue D’Auria

© Layout and graphic processing: Sara Barbagli

© Ebook version: Leonardo Nassini, grafica editoriale

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 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 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 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 Sneferu’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, 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 east-west. 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 Sneferu 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 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!”

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 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 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 Al-Ahram.

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 talking 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 El-Mallakh, 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 an 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 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 a 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 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 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.

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 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-Ghorab (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.”