9 ms·

4,400 year old Egyptian tomb discovered in the Saqqara pyramid complex

275 points by open-source-ux 8y ago

muratgozel 8y ago
I felt like looking to google drive of an ancient man. I really would like to read about the meanings of the objects found in those walls.
- xaedes 8y ago
  It really looks in good shape (and color)! Regarding the meaning of objects found I want to share this humorous story in which future archaeologists find a motel room and they believe to have found a great tomb similar to that of Tutankhamun: "Motel of the Mysteries" http://sultanaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Motel-of-the-Mysteries-Macaulay.pdf http://sultanaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Motel...
  - muratgozel 8y ago
    haha, great example :) I generally think in the way the story points to. the reason we tend to give sacred meanings to ancient findings is because of our search for the meaning of life, I think. Finding details about their daily life would be more interesting and useful, however.
- wl 8y ago
  Egyptian funerary practice is pretty formulaic. A quick glance at the inscriptions, and I spot some traditional offering formulae. Here's a translation from the register on the right in the picture with the label beginning 'Priests were important people': "An offering the king gives to Osiris, foremost of the westerners, lord of Djedu, a voice offering [of bread and beer] for him at every festival and every day..." and then it cuts off. I'd expect the inscription to continue stating that these offerings are for the spirit of the tomb's owner, along with a list of some of his offices. I spot similar offerings to Anubis. I spot the epithet "venerable", indicating that the tomb owner had a funerary cult.
Hoasi 8y ago
Letting a horde of journalists rush to photograph the tomb at once seems like a terrible idea. That goes against the most basic precaution you could take to protect archeological artifacts. What kind of professional archeologist would let that happen?
- tomcam 8y ago
  We’re not dealing with the British Museum here. Money changed hands through informal channels, though no journalists will publicly acknowledge what happens. The Egyptian government has underfunded antiquities greviously for years, and this has not been a stable system like the West is accustomed to at any time in modern history.
  - grigjd3 8y ago
    You ever see the way artifacts are treated at the British Museum? Despite all the signs, people can't help but put their hands all over everything.
- eponeponepon 8y ago
  These things can be done in an organised and controlled fashion - one has to hope that those in charge did so. There's no particular reason to assume that "a horde" of journalists were allowed to rush in, though. Fundamentally it's a judgement call for the archaeologists as to whether the tomb is in good enough condition and the photographers are trustworthy enough.
  - Hoasi 8y ago
    > There's no particular reason to assume that "a horde" of journalists were allowed to rush in, though. Look at the video, it is ridiculous. People are walking on each other feet there. > Fundamentally it's a judgement call for the archaeologists as to whether the tomb is in good enough condition and the photographers are trustworthy enough. The flashes alone should be a concern. That's also not a good way to get a good photograph. They should know better. You'd expect and perhaps understand this happening at a celebrity gathering. But it is not like the statues are going to bust a move soon here.
limeblack 8y ago
In college and high school I was taught they used radar years ago to find what was thought to be all of the remaining tombs. Anyone know why this one hadn't been found yet?
- realthing 8y ago
  Edgar Cayce made this predication many years before radar technology was even invented. To my mind, the mystery surrounding ancient Egypt and the culture of its people still laregly remains a mystery..
- gammateam 8y ago
  My experience with “found” in egypt means “hasnt been completely sacked by raiders 200 years ago” I would love to be proven wrong this time
  - privong 8y ago
    The article states that the tomb has been, "untouched for 4,400 years". Other articles (e.g., [0]) have explicitly stated that the tomb has not been looted. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-archaeology/egypt-unveils-one-of-a-kind-ancient-tomb-expects-more-finds-idUSKBN1OE0HD https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-archaeology/egypt-u...
- ronald_raygun 8y ago
  So the technology has improved quiet a bit since then, now they are using muon scans! But I think they might have just been referring to hidden chambers in the places we know about https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/astrophysics/muon-imaging-finds-hidden-chamber-in-great-pyramid-of-giza https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/astrophysics/m...
Alex3917 8y ago
The YouTube channel Ancient Architects is pretty good at covering the latest ancient history news: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9UGStJHZZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9UGStJHZZM
- vatueil 8y ago
  From a cursory glance at the channel's descriptions and video titles it looks sort of sketchy, to be honest. Is that impression wrong? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCscI4NOggNSN-Si5QgErNCw/about https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCscI4NOggNSN-Si5QgErNCw/abo... > Ancient history and civilisations channel brought to you by Matt Sibson, offering alternative interpretations on the most well-known ancient sites in the world. History isn't always as it seems. https://www.patreon.com/ancientarchitects https://www.patreon.com/ancientarchitects > I find that most mainstream historical interpretations are full of holes, both historically and scientifically and I intend to look at all of the evidence and offer my own unique interpretation on ancient history and the countless ancient mysteries.
  - Alex3917 8y ago
    > From a cursory glance at the channel's descriptions and video titles it looks sort of sketchy, to be honest. Is that impression wrong? I mean he's mostly looking for interesting stuff on Google Maps, then reading whatever information exists about whatever he's finding. So what he thinks things are sometimes changes from week to week as he reads new stuff. I wouldn't say it's sketchy per se, you just need to understand what it is and what it isn't. I think his own area of expertise is neolithic British monuments, so he isn't an expert in most of the things he's talking about, he's just an insanely smart guy who is very well read.
    - vatueil 8y ago
      Thanks for the response. Would it be correct though to say the channel does not reflect mainstream academic views? The creator of the YouTube channel describes himself on his Facebook profile as a geologist with an interest in Neolithic sites, but he does not appear to be an archaeologist, anthropologist, or any sort of professional historian: https://www.facebook.com/pg/MattSibsonAuthor/about/ https://www.facebook.com/pg/MattSibsonAuthor/about/ > Ancient history writer, geologist, currently re-writing the history of the Stonehenge landscape with new interpretations of Neolithic monuments. While amateurs are capable of good work, and scientific consensus can change, eccentric ideas are more often wrong than right. Matt Sibson may mean well, but I would not consider his YouTube channel a reliable source given that the videos appear to diverge from the scientific establishment on a wide range of topics.
dandare 8y ago
Shouldn't we keep a couple of these unopened for the future? Maybe open one every time we make a radical progress in some measurement technique? Is this already a thing?
- Alex3917 8y ago
  Usually, but sometimes they're going to decay anyway because of shifting groundwater. C.f. this video as an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAqPZ3NqVFk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAqPZ3NqVFk
  - albedoa 8y ago
    Come on, man. Stop posting these conspiracy videos around this thread. They really don't have a place here.
    - Alex3917 8y ago
      The video is actually a lot more interesting than the original article.
- henrikeh 8y ago
  I believe it is so, at least here in Denmark where any new hole in the ground is potentially an uncovered settlement. I recently had a chance to visit the dig at “Ringborgen” near Køge. They only dug as little as possible and with a very directed effort: answering questions such as “what is the age”, “did they have fireplaces”, “are the signs of buildings” etc. once they got the “data” they cover the site again and preserve until new questions need answers (which potentially involves new methods). In this case they had learned that the found settlement in Køge was build and deserted in a quite short time span. This raised a question with regards to other possible sites in Denmark: are there other sites with this pattern of it being deserted quickly? So old sites might now be redug. Sources: had an excellent tour at the site in Køge; a friend who works as archaeologist.
- jbuzbee 8y ago
  I recall there is a known "tomb" of a ceremonial ship next to the great pyramids. They started displaying its twin back in '82 (amazing exhibit [1]), but have left the other in place. I also suspect that the Egyptians have a stash of known tombs that they periodically "discover" in order to keep their tourism market in the news [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khufu_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khufu_ship
onetimemanytime 8y ago
4400 years ago and we are rightfully in awe. What a way to leave a history. Will my Geocities page be there 4400 years from now ? ;)
- donedealomg 8y ago
  no
- geuis 8y ago
  Doubtful your geocities page is around even now unless you backed it up or it got slurped by neocities.
  - ZeikJT 8y ago
    Might already be on The Wayback Machine.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
EGreg 8y ago
How do they possibly know the age of this tomb with certainty?
- geuis 8y ago
  Often it’s a combination of radiocarbon dating and historical records. Though probably not in this instance, there are sometimes records found in other places that say this or that person lived at the same time as another, so that can help to date things like this. Radiocarbon dating is highly accurate and 4400 years isn’t that long ago, so it’s generally accurate at dating organic remains to within a few decades. It gets less accurate over longer periods of time, but 4400 years is well within that window.
richardknop 8y ago
I'm still wondering about the secret tunnel in the Great Pyramid of Giza with double false door that was found with a robot. They never further researched what's on the other side of the second false door. Also it is known based on radar screenings there are some empty spaces under the Sphinx, quite likely very ancient chambers. I wish they would dig bellow the Sphinx to find out what's actually there. I guess it would cost a lot of money and be time consuming and risky so they won't do it (in both cases). Pity that we might not know what may be there.
- brett40324 8y ago
  Checkout The Pyramid Code series. They bring to light research and theories that tell quite a different story about what Giza may of been and was used for.
harshulpandav 8y ago
'The tomb was found in a buried ridge' It is commendable how researchers do not give up digging, quite literally. I also understand this is intensely a resource (time and money) consuming process. However I wonder why and how this was not discovered until now. Can't we disperse autonomous devices/robots that discover hollow spaces deep underground using SONAR or other vibration techniques?
cambaceres 8y ago
If you are interested in learning about the ancient Egyptian civilization, I recommend this book that I just finished (with basically no prior knowledge on the subject) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8536070-the-rise-and-fall-of-ancient-egypt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8536070-the-rise-and-fal... https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Ancient-Egypt/dp/0553384902 https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Ancient-Egypt/dp/0553384902
ryanmercer 8y ago
Aziz, LIGHT!

I felt like looking to google drive of an ancient man. I really would like to read about the meanings of the objects found in those walls.

xaedes 8y ago
It really looks in good shape (and color)! Regarding the meaning of objects found I want to share this humorous story in which future archaeologists find a motel room and they believe to have found a great tomb similar to that of Tutankhamun: "Motel of the Mysteries" http://sultanaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Motel-of-the-Mysteries-Macaulay.pdf http://sultanaeducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Motel...
- muratgozel 8y ago
  haha, great example :) I generally think in the way the story points to. the reason we tend to give sacred meanings to ancient findings is because of our search for the meaning of life, I think. Finding details about their daily life would be more interesting and useful, however.
wl 8y ago
Egyptian funerary practice is pretty formulaic. A quick glance at the inscriptions, and I spot some traditional offering formulae. Here's a translation from the register on the right in the picture with the label beginning 'Priests were important people': "An offering the king gives to Osiris, foremost of the westerners, lord of Djedu, a voice offering [of bread and beer] for him at every festival and every day..." and then it cuts off. I'd expect the inscription to continue stating that these offerings are for the spirit of the tomb's owner, along with a list of some of his offices. I spot similar offerings to Anubis. I spot the epithet "venerable", indicating that the tomb owner had a funerary cult.

Hoasi 8y ago

Letting a horde of journalists rush to photograph the tomb at once seems like a terrible idea. That goes against the most basic precaution you could take to protect archeological artifacts. What kind of professional archeologist would let that happen?

tomcam 8y ago
We’re not dealing with the British Museum here. Money changed hands through informal channels, though no journalists will publicly acknowledge what happens. The Egyptian government has underfunded antiquities greviously for years, and this has not been a stable system like the West is accustomed to at any time in modern history.
- grigjd3 8y ago
  You ever see the way artifacts are treated at the British Museum? Despite all the signs, people can't help but put their hands all over everything.
eponeponepon 8y ago
These things can be done in an organised and controlled fashion - one has to hope that those in charge did so. There's no particular reason to assume that "a horde" of journalists were allowed to rush in, though. Fundamentally it's a judgement call for the archaeologists as to whether the tomb is in good enough condition and the photographers are trustworthy enough.
- Hoasi 8y ago
  > There's no particular reason to assume that "a horde" of journalists were allowed to rush in, though. Look at the video, it is ridiculous. People are walking on each other feet there. > Fundamentally it's a judgement call for the archaeologists as to whether the tomb is in good enough condition and the photographers are trustworthy enough. The flashes alone should be a concern. That's also not a good way to get a good photograph. They should know better. You'd expect and perhaps understand this happening at a celebrity gathering. But it is not like the statues are going to bust a move soon here.

limeblack 8y ago

In college and high school I was taught they used radar years ago to find what was thought to be all of the remaining tombs. Anyone know why this one hadn't been found yet?

realthing 8y ago
Edgar Cayce made this predication many years before radar technology was even invented. To my mind, the mystery surrounding ancient Egypt and the culture of its people still laregly remains a mystery..
gammateam 8y ago
My experience with “found” in egypt means “hasnt been completely sacked by raiders 200 years ago” I would love to be proven wrong this time
- privong 8y ago
  The article states that the tomb has been, "untouched for 4,400 years". Other articles (e.g., [0]) have explicitly stated that the tomb has not been looted. [0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-archaeology/egypt-unveils-one-of-a-kind-ancient-tomb-expects-more-finds-idUSKBN1OE0HD https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-archaeology/egypt-u...
ronald_raygun 8y ago
So the technology has improved quiet a bit since then, now they are using muon scans! But I think they might have just been referring to hidden chambers in the places we know about https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/astrophysics/muon-imaging-finds-hidden-chamber-in-great-pyramid-of-giza https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/aerospace/astrophysics/m...

Alex3917 8y ago

The YouTube channel Ancient Architects is pretty good at covering the latest ancient history news: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9UGStJHZZM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9UGStJHZZM

vatueil 8y ago
From a cursory glance at the channel's descriptions and video titles it looks sort of sketchy, to be honest. Is that impression wrong? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCscI4NOggNSN-Si5QgErNCw/about https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCscI4NOggNSN-Si5QgErNCw/abo... > Ancient history and civilisations channel brought to you by Matt Sibson, offering alternative interpretations on the most well-known ancient sites in the world. History isn't always as it seems. https://www.patreon.com/ancientarchitects https://www.patreon.com/ancientarchitects > I find that most mainstream historical interpretations are full of holes, both historically and scientifically and I intend to look at all of the evidence and offer my own unique interpretation on ancient history and the countless ancient mysteries.
- Alex3917 8y ago
  > From a cursory glance at the channel's descriptions and video titles it looks sort of sketchy, to be honest. Is that impression wrong? I mean he's mostly looking for interesting stuff on Google Maps, then reading whatever information exists about whatever he's finding. So what he thinks things are sometimes changes from week to week as he reads new stuff. I wouldn't say it's sketchy per se, you just need to understand what it is and what it isn't. I think his own area of expertise is neolithic British monuments, so he isn't an expert in most of the things he's talking about, he's just an insanely smart guy who is very well read.
  - vatueil 8y ago
    Thanks for the response. Would it be correct though to say the channel does not reflect mainstream academic views? The creator of the YouTube channel describes himself on his Facebook profile as a geologist with an interest in Neolithic sites, but he does not appear to be an archaeologist, anthropologist, or any sort of professional historian: https://www.facebook.com/pg/MattSibsonAuthor/about/ https://www.facebook.com/pg/MattSibsonAuthor/about/ > Ancient history writer, geologist, currently re-writing the history of the Stonehenge landscape with new interpretations of Neolithic monuments. While amateurs are capable of good work, and scientific consensus can change, eccentric ideas are more often wrong than right. Matt Sibson may mean well, but I would not consider his YouTube channel a reliable source given that the videos appear to diverge from the scientific establishment on a wide range of topics.

dandare 8y ago

Shouldn't we keep a couple of these unopened for the future? Maybe open one every time we make a radical progress in some measurement technique? Is this already a thing?

Alex3917 8y ago
Usually, but sometimes they're going to decay anyway because of shifting groundwater. C.f. this video as an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAqPZ3NqVFk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAqPZ3NqVFk
- albedoa 8y ago
  Come on, man. Stop posting these conspiracy videos around this thread. They really don't have a place here.
  - Alex3917 8y ago
    The video is actually a lot more interesting than the original article.
henrikeh 8y ago
I believe it is so, at least here in Denmark where any new hole in the ground is potentially an uncovered settlement. I recently had a chance to visit the dig at “Ringborgen” near Køge. They only dug as little as possible and with a very directed effort: answering questions such as “what is the age”, “did they have fireplaces”, “are the signs of buildings” etc. once they got the “data” they cover the site again and preserve until new questions need answers (which potentially involves new methods). In this case they had learned that the found settlement in Køge was build and deserted in a quite short time span. This raised a question with regards to other possible sites in Denmark: are there other sites with this pattern of it being deserted quickly? So old sites might now be redug. Sources: had an excellent tour at the site in Køge; a friend who works as archaeologist.
jbuzbee 8y ago
I recall there is a known "tomb" of a ceremonial ship next to the great pyramids. They started displaying its twin back in '82 (amazing exhibit [1]), but have left the other in place. I also suspect that the Egyptians have a stash of known tombs that they periodically "discover" in order to keep their tourism market in the news [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khufu_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khufu_ship

onetimemanytime 8y ago

4400 years ago and we are rightfully in awe. What a way to leave a history. Will my Geocities page be there 4400 years from now ? ;)

donedealomg 8y ago
no
geuis 8y ago
Doubtful your geocities page is around even now unless you backed it up or it got slurped by neocities.
- ZeikJT 8y ago
  Might already be on The Wayback Machine.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

EGreg 8y ago

How do they possibly know the age of this tomb with certainty?

geuis 8y ago
Often it’s a combination of radiocarbon dating and historical records. Though probably not in this instance, there are sometimes records found in other places that say this or that person lived at the same time as another, so that can help to date things like this. Radiocarbon dating is highly accurate and 4400 years isn’t that long ago, so it’s generally accurate at dating organic remains to within a few decades. It gets less accurate over longer periods of time, but 4400 years is well within that window.

richardknop 8y ago

I'm still wondering about the secret tunnel in the Great Pyramid of Giza with double false door that was found with a robot. They never further researched what's on the other side of the second false door. Also it is known based on radar screenings there are some empty spaces under the Sphinx, quite likely very ancient chambers. I wish they would dig bellow the Sphinx to find out what's actually there. I guess it would cost a lot of money and be time consuming and risky so they won't do it (in both cases). Pity that we might not know what may be there.

brett40324 8y ago
Checkout The Pyramid Code series. They bring to light research and theories that tell quite a different story about what Giza may of been and was used for.

harshulpandav 8y ago

'The tomb was found in a buried ridge' It is commendable how researchers do not give up digging, quite literally. I also understand this is intensely a resource (time and money) consuming process. However I wonder why and how this was not discovered until now. Can't we disperse autonomous devices/robots that discover hollow spaces deep underground using SONAR or other vibration techniques?

cambaceres 8y ago

If you are interested in learning about the ancient Egyptian civilization, I recommend this book that I just finished (with basically no prior knowledge on the subject) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8536070-the-rise-and-fall-of-ancient-egypt https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8536070-the-rise-and-fal... https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Ancient-Egypt/dp/0553384902 https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Fall-Ancient-Egypt/dp/0553384902

ryanmercer 8y ago

Aziz, LIGHT!