EDITED BY ZAHI HAWASS Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Director of the Giza Pyramids Excavations PROJECT EDITORS Laura Accomazzo Valeria Manferto De Fabianis GRAPHIC DESICN Paola Piacco WHITE STAR PUBLISHERS THE TREASURES OF THE PYRAMIDS Contents INTRODUCTION Page 5 CHAPTER 8 by H.E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak THE ROYAL MORTUARY ENCLOSURES OF ABYDOS AND HIERAKONPOLIS by Matthew Adams and David O'Connor Page 78 THE PYRAMIDS Page 12 by Zahi Hawass CHAPTER 9 THE STEP PYRAMIDS CHRONOLOGY Page is by Ali Radwan Page 86 CHAPTER I CHAPTER 10 WHY A PYRAMID? PYRAMID RELIGION THE PYRAMIDS OF THE FOURTH DYNASTY by James P. Allen Page 22 by Rainer Stadelmann Page 112 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER \ \ THE QUEENS' PYRAMIDS OF THE FOURTH DYNASTY AT GIZA THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PYRAMID by Zahi Hawass Page 138 by Vassil Dobrev Page 28 CHAPTER 12 CHAPTER 3 THE SATELLITE PYRAMID OF KHUFU BUILDING AN OLD KINGDOM PYRAMID by Zahi Hawass Page 150 by Mark Lehner Page 32 CHAPTER 13 CHAPTER A THE MYSTERY OF HETEPHERES THE ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE EGYPTIAN ROYAL TOMB by Zahi Hawass Page 152 by Zahi Hawass Page 46 CHAPTER 14 CHAPTER 5 THE SECRET DOORS INSIDE THE GREAT PYRAMID by Zahi Hawass Page 156 THE ARCHITECTURAL COMPONENTS OF THE PYRAMID COMPLEX by Zahi Hawass Page 50 CHAPTER 15 THE PYRAMIDION CHAPTER e by Zahi Hawass Page 160 THE PREDYNASTIC PERIOD CHAPTER \6 by Renee Friedman Page 54 THE ROYAL BOATS AT GIZA by Zahi Hawass Page 164 CHAPTER I THE TOMBS OF THE FIRST AND SECOND DYNASTIES CHAPTER a AT ABYDOS AND SAQOARA THE SPHINX by Giinter Dreyer Page 62 by Mark Lehner Page 172 10 CHAPTER IS The Publisher would like to thank: H.E. Farouk Hosny - The Egyptian Minister of Culture, THE TOMBS OF THE HIGH OFFICIALS AT GIZA Nabil Osman - President of the Egyptian Information Center by Peter Der Manuelian Page 190 Attiya Shakran - General Director of the Cairo Press Center, CHAPTER 19 M. El-Damaty - Director of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Mena House Oberoi Hotel, Cairo, THE 'UNFINISHED' PYRAMIDS OF THE FOURTH DYNASTY Gamal Sbafik of the Cairo Press Center, by Michel Valloggia Pag. 224 The curators and assistants of the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, CHAPTER 20 Rajiv Kaul, Guido Paradisi and Fabio Calamante - photographers' iiss/staiifs. THE PYRAMIDS OF THE FIFTH DYNASTY by Miroslav Verner Pag. 236 CHAPTER 21 The Editor would like to thank Mark Linz and Neil Hewison of the American University in Cairo Press. He also wants to thank Essam Shehab of the Giza Inspectorate, and THE SURPRISING ABUSIR BLOCKS. Mohamed Ismail, Mobamed Megahed, Brook Myers, and Sahar Mabroukfrom the by Zahi Hawass and Miroslav Verner Pag. 260 Technical Office of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. CHAPTER 22 THE PYRAMIDS OF THE SIXTH DYNASTY by Audran Labrousse Pag. 264 CHAPTER 23 10-11 THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM OF THE OLD KINCDOM PYRAMID COMPLEXES Scene showing the 'Meidum geese,' by Zahi Hawass Page 282 Egyptian Museum Cairo, Old CHAPTER 24 Kingdom. THE TOMBS OF THE FIFTH AND SIXTH DYNASTIES AT SAQQARA by Karol Mys'liwiec Page 286 CHAPTER 25 THE PYRAMIDS OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM © 2003 White Star S.r.l. by Dieter Arnold Page 326 Via C Sassone, 22/24 13100 Vercelli, Italy CHAPTER 26 www.whitestar.it All rights reserved. No pan ol this publication may be THE TOMBS OF THE NOBLES IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, by David P. Silverman Page 348 photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. CHAPTER 21 ISBN 88-8095-233-1 ROYAL AND PRIVATE STATUES OF THE OLD AND MIDDLE KINGDOMS Reprints: by Hourig Sourouzian Page 366 12 3 4 5 6 07 06 05 04 03 Printed in Italy by Officine Grafiche De Agostini INDEX AND BIBLIOGRAPHY Page 392 Color separation by Fotomcc, Turin I I Chapter _The Royal _ Boats at Giza by Zahi Hawass •4 Five boat pits have been discovered in the pyramid with the hieroglyph for life on it, and a fragment of a compleA ive x of Khufu. The three to the east of the pyramid granite statue. The inscriptions and the statue are boat-shaped, with narrowed prow and stem, the fragments may originally have come from Khufu's remaining two, to the south, are rectangular in shape, temple,- they would, of course, have been deposited in and were cut to house full-size wooden boats that had the boat pit at a time after the reign of Khufu, been dismantled. There is a great deal of scholarly possibly later than the Old Kingdom. argument about the purpose and symbolism of these The Egyptian scholar Selim Hassan, who did a pits, which are the descendants of boat pits found great deal of work at Giza, noted the presence of a associated with a number of Early Dynastic royal tombs. shallow cutting in the bottom of the southern pit, and Two of the eastern boat pits lie parallel to the east suggested that it might indicate the original presence face of the pyramid, and were dug into the rock of of a rectangular cabin, or that it may have formed a the plateau to the north and south of the upper bed to support casing stones. There is argument about temple. These are very large: for example, the the orientation of both of these pits: some scholars southern pit is 51.5 m long, seven meters wide at its think the prow of the southern pit was to the south midpoint, and eight meters deep. They were and the prow of the northern pit was to the north, but originally paved with limestone blocks, traces of others feel that the opposite was the case. which were found in situ in the southern pit by Petrie. The third boat pit lies parallel to the causeway at Petrie also found some roofing blocks covering the a point several meters from the eastern wall of the west end of the southern trench, although other upper temple. It measures 45.4 m in length and 3.75 scholars believe that the pit was never covered, since m at its widest point. The vertical prow, representing pillars would have been needed to help span its width. a curtained bow post, is to the east, and is shaped like The southern pit was cleared of debris long ago,- a cradle. The shape of this pit has been compared to we recently cleared the debris from the northern pit boats from the Archaic Period. A stairway containing as part of our site management plan. Various artifacts eighteen steps was found inside the pit, filled with were found in the fill of these pits. One was a masonry rubble,- it is difficult to tell whether or not fragment of limestone with the word ahbet written on the pit was roofed originally. Holes cut in the sides of it in hieroglyphs. This was probably part of the name the pit have been interpreted as sockets for small akbet-khufu, the 'Horizon of Khufu,' which was the transverse beams. George Reisner found cordage and name of the Great Pyramid. A sherd from a red pot pieces of gilded wood inside the pit, indicating that a was also found, as well as a fragment of limestone boat had once been inside. {64 465 Khufu's extraordinary wooden solar boat This wooden model oj a solar boat, was found by Kamal El Mallakh and now conserved in the Egyptian Museum now is conserved in a museum close to the in Cairo, probably dates to the pyramid of Khufu. Old Kingdom. Chapter ¡6 I 165 166 top left Aerial view of the three boat pits that were discovered on the east side oj the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Giza, Fourth Dynasty. i66 center left The eastern boat pit can be easily discerned in this photograph. Giza, Fourth Dynasty. (66-167 The shrine of the solar boat of Khufu, discovered in (954, has been completely reassembled in an accurate restoration. 167 top The first boat pit of Khufu-. in particular, one can observe the limestone covering slotifs Chapter i6 i (,(, In 1954, while excavating the southern side of The pit itself is rectangular in shape and measures the Great Pyramid between the base of the pyramid 32.5 m in length; its sides are vertical and tool marks and the southern mastabas, Egyptian archaeologist on the sides and bottom show that they were dressed Kamal El Mallakh discovered two new boat pits. using copper chisels. Among the quarry inscriptions These two pits lie outside the great temenos wall of the found on many of the roofing blocks were eighteen pyramid, and they were covered by the debris of the cartouches of Djedefre, Khufu's son and successor, enclosure wall. The two pits are separated by a showing that he was responsible for the funeral of his north-south wall of rocks which lies on the north- father. On the southern wall of the pit are signs in south axis of the pyramid. The eastern pit was red ink that list measurements which, as yet, have not opened and found to contain a large wooden been studied. boat,- the western is yet Inside the pit were found the dismantled pieces of a to be excavated, and very large wooden boat. On top of the wood was a is still covered by layer of mats and ropes, an instrument made of flint, twenty limestone slabs. and some small pieces of white plaster. The prow of the When the eastern pit boat, a wooden column topped by a round wooden ^fc^, was discovered, it was disk, was found at the western end of the pit.