British archaeologist Howard Carter reported that he saw “wonderful things” when he opened the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922.
The tomb is full of extraordinary treasures, including Tutankhamun’s golden death mask, a golden throne, and even golden sandals. But did all the royal tombs in ancient Egypt contain such splendor?
While the Great Pyramid of Giza and other ancient Egyptian pyramids are incredible monuments, the burial materials inside are probably relatively modest compared to those buried in the tombs of later pharaohs such as Tutankhamun.
“Perhaps the burials in the largest of the pyramids seem very simple compared to Tutankhamun,” said Wolfram Grajitsky, who conducted extensive studies and wrote on ancient Egyptian burial customs and burial purposes at College London in England.
The pyramids were used as tombs by the pharaohs of Egypt from the reign of Djoser (2630 BC – 2611 BC) to the reign of Ahmose I (1550 BC – 1525 BC). Many of these pyramids were looted centuries ago, but some royal tombs remain relatively intact, giving clues to their treasures, Grajitsky said.
For example, Princess Neferptah, who lived about 1800 BC, was buried in a pyramid in the Hawara region, about 100 km south of Cairo. The burial chamber, excavated in 1956, “contains pottery, a group of sarcophagi, some gilded personal decorations, and a series of royal insignia identifying him as Osiris, the god of the underworld,” said Grajitsky.
Grajetsky says that although King Hur (who lived about 1750 BC) was not buried in a pyramid, he was buried with a similar set of objects. “As a body [هور] It is wrapped in linen and the intestines are placed in special containers called canopic jars.
The tomb of Queen Hetepheres, mother of Khufu (the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid), is somewhat more detailed. Grajitsky wrote in an article published in the magazine “Egypt’s Legacy” in January 2008 that it had small pottery and brass utensils, as well as a bed and two chairs decorated with gold, built in Giza.
According to Reg Clark, Egyptologist and author of Securing Eternity: Protecting Ancient Egypt Tombs from Sometime, the infrastructure (bottom) of King Sekhemkhet’s (c. Pyramids ”(American University in Cairo, 2019), in an email to Live Science .
Clark said the king’s sarcophagus was empty, but archaeologists found “21 gold bracelets, a gold scepter or scepter, and various gold jewelry” in a corridor. Although these are magnificent tombs, they are nowhere near the treasures found in Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Artifacts found in royal tombs suggest that the pharaohs buried in the pyramids may have been buried in more modest tombs than those buried with Tutankhamun, Grajitsky said. Unlike the ancient pharaohs, Tutankhamun’s tomb is located in the Valley of the Kings, a remote valley near modern-day Luxor that was used as a royal tomb for over 500 years during the New Kingdom, according to the Britannica. .
“It doesn’t mean that [خوفو] is more difficult [من توت عنخ آمون]. His pyramid proves otherwise. He was buried only according to the traditions of his time. ”
“There are no great treasures in the pyramids, like in Tut’s tomb,” Hans-Obertus Munch, a researcher who studies and writes about the burial findings of ancient Egypt, told Live Science in an email.
He noted that during the New Kingdom (circa 1550 BC – 1070 BC), when the construction of the pyramids was completed, the number of wealthy tombs buried with royal and non -royal family members increased.
Although the burial material inside the pyramids is modest compared to the elapsed ancient Egyptian tombs, some pyramids have long hieroglyphic inscriptions on their walls, which scholars now refer to as “pyramid texts . ” The texts record many “spells” (as Egyptologists call them) and rituals.
The Unis or Unas Pyramid (ca. 2353 BC – 2323 BC) was the first pyramid to have these texts on its inner walls, while the Ibi Pyramid (2109 BC – 2107 BC) was the last known case. According to James Allen, Professor of Egyptology at Brown University, who writes in The Texts of the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids.
Source: Life Science
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