No comments The tomb chamber at the upper end of the Grand Gallery was further protected by three portcullises which were removed by intruders. The room itself, nowadays known as the ‘King’s chamber’, is a room of 10.5 m. by 5.3 m.; it is 5.8 m. high and completely lined with granite. It contains an unadorned, lidless, rectangular sarcophagus which must have been placed in position while the pyramid was still building since it is too large to pass through the entrance passage. The roof of the King’s chamber is made of flat granite slabs and protected from the superincumbent weight of masonry by five relieving spaces. When the tomb chamber was first entered is not known since the roof slab in the descending passage, which concealed the ascending one, only fell when the Caliph Ma’mun’s men tunnelled into the pyramid in the ninth century AD. The contemporary Arabic account is, unfortunately, too fanciful to provide useful information.
 |
| Ancient Egyptian Pyramid |
Khufu’s pyramid is surrounded by neat rows of mastabas and three small pyramids in which his relatives and high officials were buried. It is mainly from these burials that Reisner reconstructed the family history of the Fourth Dynasty. Also around the pyramid are located a number of boat pits which had all been robbed. Great excitement was therefore caused when in 1954 clearance of the sand at the south side of the pyramid led to the discovery of a row of 41 large limestone slabs, each almost five metres long. When they were lifted they disclosed the dismantled parts of the large ship, already mentioned in the last chapter. Preservation and reconstruction of the vessel, which had one or two cabins, is still in progress.
Egyptian Pyramid Age :
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P1
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P2
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P3
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P4
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P5
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P6
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P7
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P8
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P9
The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Age Facts P10