To date, a total of 110 pyramids have been discovered in Egypt. The lastest discovery, one of a Queen's pyramid at the pyramid of Pharaoh Djedefre at Abu Roash. Djedefre was the son of Pharaoh Khufu, the Pharaoh who had the Great Pyramid built at Giza. Pharaoh Djedefre succeeded his father Khufu to the throne. There are also about 20 tombs discovered so far in Egypt that may have had a pyramid built on top of them, but due to the type of construction and time, have disappeared over the centuries.
Giza Pyramids
During the year 2000 celebrations in Egypt, it was suggested to place a solid gold cap, temporarily, on top of the great pyramid of Khufu,
the same as was thought to have been put there when the pyramid was built, 4500 years ago. Although it wasn't done, it would have been a great sight, as it was 4500 years ago.
Khufu's Pyramid
The following picture illustrates another mystery, shafts (2) approx. 4"x4" go from the Kings chamber in the Great Pyramid of Khufu to the outside of the pyramid. There is one going from the north side of the chamber to the north outside wall of the pyramid and one going from the south side of the chamber to the south outside wall of the pyramid. These are believed to be pathways for the spirit of the Pharaoh to go to his resting place among the Gods. Now, for the real mystery. In the great pyramid, there are two more chambers, one unfinished subterranean chamber under the pyramid and another much higher up within the pyramid itself, but lower than the Kings chamber, called the Queens chamber, that is finished, yet empty. Two shafts, same size as those in the Kings chamber have also been found leading from this chamber. No-one knows where they lead to since they, unlike those from the Kings chamber, DO NOT EXIT the outside walls of the pyramid. In fact, the shafts were not exposed within the Queens chamber as they were in the Kings chamber, but were hidden behind finished stone. The south shaft from the Queens chamber has been explored by a special mechanical robot with lights and a camera and about 213' up the shaft, a limestone fitted plug, much like a door, was found with two copper pins imbedded in the plug sealing off the shaft. What's on the other side, no-one knows, the Egyptian government hasn't allowed further investigation. There is a small part of one of the lower corners broken off on this shaft plug and a small wire camera should be able to go pass the plug and show what is on the other side.
A theory has been advanced about the unfinished chamber
deep in the Great Pyramid of Khufu on the Giza plateau. No reasonable explanation has ever been given on why no mummy was found in the completely sealed King's burial chamber with sarcophagus,when it was finally entered in 820AD.
The theory put forward is that a secret group of workers, kept apart from the rest of the thousands of workers on the rest of the pyramid, used the pretense of digging out the unfinished subterranean chamber as a ploy while they were actually building the real burial chamber of the Pharaoh. All the other chambers and entrances were built under the watchful eyes of the thousands of workers, so were certainly not a secret. The secret still held somewhere within the Pyramid is the real burial chamber of the Pharaoh. The plan of the Pharaoh's builders worked, after 4500 years the Pyramid is still holding her secret awaiting discovery !!!!!
Giza Pyramids at Night
Just how tall is the Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu at Giza. The following picture will give you a feeling for the it's height as compared with other well known structures of today.
The pyramid of Pharaoh Amenemhet III,at Hawara,( no picture shown) was built to protect the Pharaoh forever. The pyramid had many false dead-end corridors and entrance passages leading to other corridors hidden behind roof stone panels and hidden brick doors that slid aside to reveal more corridors on different levels leading to the Pharaoh's burial vault. The Pharaoh's burial vault was the first one to use sand to hold up the top of the stone vault until after the Pharaoh was laid to rest, then the sand was allowed to escape through a series of small empty tunnels allowing the great heavy top of the stone vault to come down sealing the Pharaoh's burial chamber and sarcophagi within. This could only be done once, since once lowered it was impossible, or so they thought, to raise the top of the vault within the pyramid again. Needless to say, when the burial vault was found within the pyramid in 1845, it was found to have been looted at some time in the ancient past and the royal occupants gone.
Khafre's Pyramid
How did the egyptians move those stones into place to build the pyramids at Giza ? Did you know that about 110 plus pyramids were built in Ancient Egypt ! The best known of these pyramids are the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the Bent Pyramid and the three Pyramids at Giza. Different construction methods were used on many of the pyramids as were the entrances and locations of the tombs.
Sneferu's Bent Pyramid
Pharaoah Sneferu not only built the Bent pyramid, but also the Meidum, Red and Seila pyramids. After a reign of about 24 to 29 years, 2613-2589 BC, he was probably buried in the Red pyramid. His first pyramid, Meidum,
was first built as a step pyramid and only later finished as a "true" pyramid. The Meidum pyramid has a entrance on the outside to a passageway leading to an empty burial chamber. The Meidum pyramid was the first one to use a corbelled roof, used in the burial chamber, to relieve the weight pressure of the pyramid off an opening in a pyramid. It has just been found that above the passageway leading to the burial chamber in this pyramid, is another hidden passageway, 131 feet long leading to two chambers each about 7 feet wide near the burial chamber. This hidden passageway and two connecting chambers all have corbelled roofs, no doubt built this way to take the pressure off the known passageway to the king's burial chamber. The two discovered chambers connected to this hidden passagway are directly over two recesses about 7 feet wide and 6 feet high off the known passageway to the king's burial chamber. The hidden passageway does not have an opening to the exterior of the pyramid. This leaves one to think that the hidden passagway and two chambers were built with corbelled roofs only to relieve the weight pressure off the known passageway and the two recesses at the end of the known passageway. What were the purposes of the two recesses at the end of the known passageway, before the burial chamber, is still unknown. But the big question is, could this passageway and chambers also hid the treasures that Pharaoh Sneferu wanted to take to the otherworld with him? It looks like if anything was in the hidden passageway and two chambers, it was taken long ago. But further exploration on the passageway and chambers may revel treasures missed by the robbers or perhaps some writing left by the builders on the walls ? Pharaoah Sneferu was the father of Pharaoh Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid on the Giza plain that is so famous today. It has long been suspected by some that there are hidden passages and chambers in that pyramid waiting to be found. Like father like son ?
No burial of a Pharaoh has ever been found in any of the pyramids in Egypt. The Great Pyramid of Khufu at Giza contains 2,300,000 blocks of stone, averaging 2.5 tons apiece. In AD820, the pyramid was broken into by digging a passageway through into the Grand Gallery from the north face. The pyramid was found to be empty !
Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara
Cut Away View of Khufu's Pyramid
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