CAIRO: Egyptian archaeologists discovered a new set of tombs from the workers who built the great pyramids, shedding new light on how the laborers lived and ate more than 4,000 years ago, the antiquities department said Sunday.
The tombs date to Egypt s 4th dynasty (2575 B.C. to 2467 B.C.) when the great pyramids, the last remaining ancient wonder of the world, were built, according to the head of Egypt s Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass.
Tombs of the pyramid builders were first discovered in the area in 1990, and they showed that the workers were paid laborers, rather than slaves as had long been assumed.
These tombs were built beside the king s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves, said Hawass in the statement. If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king s.
Evidence from the site, Hawass said, indicates that the approximately 10,000 workers working on the pyramids ate 21 buffalo and 23 sheep sent to them daily from farms in northern and southern Egypt.
He added that the workers were rotated every three months and the burial sites were for those who died during the construction.
The most important new tomb discovered belonged to a man named Idu and the statement described it as rectangular in structure, with a plaster covered mudbrick outside casing.
The tomb also had burial shafts encased in white limestone.
Further grave sites were found around the main tomb, including burial shafts containing skeletons and clay pots. – AP
