Egypt Tombs Suggest Pyramids not Built by Slaves

[LuvNewcastle]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100110/sc_nm/us_egypt_antiquities_tombs

CAIRO (Reuters) – New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Sunday.

Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts.

"These tombs were built beside the king's pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves," Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement.

"If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king's."

He said the collection of workers' tombs, some of which were found in the 1990s, were among the most significant finds in the 20th and 21st centuries. They belonged to workers who built the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre.

Hawass had earlier found graffiti on the walls from workers calling themselves "friends of Khufu" -- another sign that they were not slaves.

[aquart]

1. He's announcing this like it's new news?

There are already books out on it.

[Kurt Remarque]

2. ummm....right. maybe the smurfs did it

[BurtWorm]

3. A team of Israeli archaelogists also shed doubt on there every being a large population of Hebrews

in Egypt. Just so no one presumes this is a little bit of political archaelogy going on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_Unearthed

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Abadin roughtly translates not as slaves but covee labor

thanks for confirming what we already kind of knew.

[tblue]

5. Well, I didn't know.

I think this is fascinating!

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. It is fascinating since the symbolic story of the Exodus

has a good chance of never actually happening.

(Just don't tell this to my fundy brother, for example)

Now I love the symbology of passover, the message is universal... but with all this archeology I have my doubt it actually happened.

[Chulanowa]

16. It likely has its roots somewhere in history.

Following the biblical model, the Israelites really were people fleeing famine in Canaan who migrated into Egypt.. .And found themselves being counted as Egyptians, expected to pay taxes, expected to worship with the state religion, and expected to join the other Egyptians on work teams such as what did build the pyramids.

In Bible-speak, they were slaves because they were expected to conform to the kingdom they had migrated to, rather than that kingdom conforming to them.

The actual exodus was probably more akin to race riots in eastern Egypt or something, leading to a bunch of Israelites packing loot across the desert in a hurry. where do you think they got all that gold to make an idol to Hathor? :)

Another theory was that the "Israelites" were actually exiles from Egypt after the dissolution of the Amarna heresy - Aten worship.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. And yet another theory has the tribes, loosely as I can use that name

take over the Heezreel Valley from the hills, with Egypt only as a distant master, in the collective memory. This one is gaining quite a bit of archeological adepts too.

Oh and the story of Genesis is a reflection of politics of the oh seventh century BCE, while Exodus is a parable of a local king trying to shake off that Egyptian fly. Not easy to do when the fly is an elephant.

:-)

[jmondine]

7. What's the difference between the pyramids and the White House

The White House was built by slaves.

[crikkett]

15. !

:thumbsup:

[ddeclue]

8. OK.. remind me.. were they built by Kellog Brown and Root, Halliburton or Bechtel?

:rofl:

[Ozymanithrax]

9. This is not new...

But it is interesting.

[struggle4progress]

10. Given the enormous manpower required to construct the ancient monuments, it

is clear that large populations of workers were involved, and that there would have been a substantial organization apparatus required for logistical purposes: to plan the work, to feed the workers, and so on

The presence of some comparatively high-status tombs associated with the monuments is therefore to be expected and does not imply all workers were valued and accorded status for their work

Much of the work must have been quite dangerous, offering considerable chance of serious injury, considering the size of the building blocks and the relatively unsophisticated technology available. Throughout history, such dangerous work has generally been relegated to lower status workers

It is a mistake to assume that ancient "slavery" was always comparable to its antebellum American counterpart: nothing prevents, for example, a social system in which "slaves" can obtain relatively high status: this was possible, for example, in the Roman imperial era. Thus, a high-status tomb may not necessarily indicate a "free" person

Finally, the status of the conscripted serf is not "free." For the period of conscription, the individual may effectively be a slave, without many social rights: insisting that the person is not a "slave" but merely a "conscripted peasant" might be a distinction without a difference

[struggle4progress]

12. As evidence that the tomb-builders were not always treated well, notice the so-called

"strike" during the time of Ramses III:

... During Ramesses III's massive construction programme at Thebes a strike was recorded. In the summer of Ramesses' 29th year (c. 1165 BC), the scribe Amennakhte delivered a formal complaint about the situation to the Temple of Horemheb, part of the large administrative complex of Medinet Habu. The letter stated 'One and a half khar of grain <about 168lbs> have been taken from us ... we are dying, we cannot live...'. Although a payment was soon forthcoming, the poor conditions continued and later that same year the two gangs stopped work and marched to one of the royal mortuary temples where they staged what would now be called a sit-in. This action was repeated on the following day within the compound of another temple, until the complaints were recorded and sent to the administrators of Thebes ... http://www.ancient-egypt.co.uk/Deir%20el%20Medina/index.htm

[krispos42]

11. I had understood....

...that the labor for the pyramids had come from peasant farmers that had free time during the growing season. Well, I guess "down time" would be more accurate... between harvesting and planting.

And have you seen this?

http://www.theforgottentechnology.com/newpage1

[LuvNewcastle]

13. That's interesting.

His idea seems to be better than the 'aliens did it' theory of ancient construction.:D

[krispos42]

14. Not as exciting, though...

Much more fun to imagine antigrav sleds and tractor beams

[LibertyLover]

18. Workers' tombs at Giza have been found before

and the whole "pyramids built by slaves" was debunked years ago. Zahi Hawass can be an idiot and I'm afraid that this latest pronouncement is one of those times. Of course I realized he had jumped the shark when I went to the perfectly dreadful Tutankhamen exhibit that came to the states three or so years back and saw "Official Zahi Hawass fedoras" for sale in the gift shop. Yeah, just the souvenir I want to bring home.

[freddie mertz]

19. This is not news, it's been known for many, many years.

Tombs of workers and inscriptions of work teams have been known since the 19th century.