Ancient Egypt Expeditions: Discovery Tour

A guided tour

ntro
first looking in chapel
senet
chapel osiries
nefertari w/ppl
into side chamber
offerings
thoth
osiris
cows
orbit
orbit2
down stairs
stairs side
stairs side
maat
burial
burial text
pillar
grave goods
grave goodes model
grave goods model 2
canoic jars spot
end
You’re now standing on blocks of the Great Pyramid at Giza. For the first time ever, you can explore the entire pyramid interior.
Behind you is modern-day Giza, part of the sprawling greater Cairo region on the Nile River in Egypt.
During ancient times, the banks of the Nile could reach up to where you see the buildings today.
We’re on the Giza Plateau, overlooking the surrounding city and desert.
In ancient times, it was one of several pyramid sites on the western side of the Nile.
Learn more about the history of the Pyramids and who built them.
The Great Pyramid is the only Wonder of the Ancient World that’s still standing.
The Pyramids were built as burial places for certain kings, or pharaohs, who ruled in Egypt around 4,500 years ago.
Giza has three main pyramid complexes plus the Great Sphinx, and cemeteries containing thousands of tombs.
The Pyramids at Giza were built in the Old Kingdom – sometimes called the “Pyramid Age.” Then the site was abandoned for almost 1,000 years.
The largest pyramid at Giza was built for the pharaoh Khufu. When completed, it was 481 feet (146.6 meters) tall – the tallest human-made structure on earth for almost 3,800 years.
The pyramid was built with incredible precision. It measures 750 feet on each side at its base and is built of more than 2 million limestone blocks.
Inside the pyramid is passageways leading to three main chambers – the King’s Chamber at the top, the Queen’s Chamber in the middle, and the Subterranean Chamber cut into the bedrock beneath.
The function of these chambers is still not clear.
Let’s go inside!
We’re entering today through a robbers’ tunnel, which some believe was created in 820 CE by Caliph al-Ma’mun as he tried to break into the pyramid.
As the story goes, al-Ma’mun’s men bashed straight through the stone here with a battering ram, trying to find the original entrance.
While digging, al-Ma’mun’s men heard a loud crash ahead of them from further inside the pyramid.
Their activity caused the collapse of stone from the ceiling which hid the entrance to the Ascending Passage. Noise from the fall led them to turn left and find the entrance.
Archaeologists question this story, and some say rather that this tunnel was carved by ancient robbers in search of the pharaoh’s burial treasures fairly soon after the Giza pyramids were constructed.
To the left is the Descending Passage to the Subterranean Chamber. This is normally closed off to visitors, but we can visit on our tour!
This passage leads deep into the pyramid interior, and then further down into bedrock below for about 300 feet.
Khufu lived around 2500 BCE, and little is known about him. The only image of him is this tiny statue that’s only 3 inches (7.6 cm) tall.
In the nearby pyramid of Queen Hetepheres I, an inscription refers to her as mother of a king with Khufu’s father, Sneferu.
Khufu was likely their son.
Khufu’s name isn’t inscribed on the walls of his pyramid.
Archaeologists attribute the Great Pyramid to Khufu by inscriptions found elsewhere at Giza and from graffiti left inside the pyramid by its builders.
This is the Subterranean Chamber, carved directly into the bedrock beneath the pyramid.
We’re almost directly below the top of the pyramid right now. This chamber was never finished.
This mysterious chamber doesn’t offer many clues about its purpose.
It was only roughly carved, leaving the unfinished appearance that you see here.
There’s an experiment going on here currently: a cosmic ray detector is measuring the pyramid’s density to detect any other spaces that might be additional chambers.
In recent years, a similar process may have identified a previously unknown hollow area near the King’s Chamber above us.
Behind us, a pit was dug into the chamber floor. Archaeologists consider that Khufu originally was supposed to be buried here, but instead was laid to rest in the highest chamber above us.
You can explore here, and when you’re finished, click “Next” and we’ll head back up.
Next is the Ascending Passage, which leads to the pyramid’s other two chambers – the so-called King’s Chamber and Queen’s chamber.
The two passages are connected, but the Ascending Passage is blocked by these three granite stones.
Ancient historians such as Herodotus recorded that Khufu was a fierce and stern ruler.
These accounts date to more than 2,000 years after Khufu’s time, however, so they may not be entirely accurate.
In Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, many myths were invented about Khufu and the use of his pyramid.
The Ascending Passage leads into the Grand Gallery. This is one of the most famous architectural elements inside the pyramid – an engineering marvel with massive 28-feet (8.53 meters) high stonework.
To the right is a well shaft that connects to the Descending Passage.
Where this shaft hits bedrock, it opens to a small natural cave in the limestone, sometimes called the Grotto.
The Grand Gallery connects to this small horizontal corridor that leads into the Queen’s Chamber.
The holes to the left and right originally held slabs that extended to the stairs above to conceal the entrance.
Khufu’s pyramid complex includes boat pits along two exterior sides of the pyramid itself, and two of these contained incredibly well-preserved, full-size (but disassembled) “solar” or funerary boats.
The Egyptians may have buried the boat alongside the king for his use in sailing the Nile in the afterlife. The reconstructed boats are on display in the Grand Egyptian Museum.
This is the so-called Queen’s Chamber, but it’s unlikely that a Queen was ever buried here.
We’re exactly halfway between the north and south faces of the pyramid.
In the east wall of the chamber is a small niche shaped out of the stone blocks. We’re uncertain what purpose this niche had, but robbers dug a small tunnel into the back of it.
There are two shafts carved into the sides of the Queen’s Chamber – one here and another directly behind you.
They lead north and south, almost but not all the way to the outside face of the pyramid.
Let’s head back out to the Grand Gallery.
The walls of the gallery are formed of rows of stone blocks, with each row set slightly inward from the one below it. This building technique helps to support the immense weight above.
Along the floor of the Gallery are two shelves with a channel between them.
There are 28 slots cut into the shelves on each side, with niches located above each slot.
Some have argued that these slots once held wooden frames for large stones that blocked this passage.
Others think that these slots were instead used to hoist the granite blocks for the King’s Chamber up ahead of us.
This corridor leads into the Antechamber of the King’s Chamber – the last line of defense against robbers.
The Antechamber is built entirely of granite. Three huge slots in the walls are for portcullises, giant blocks installed to seal the King’s Chamber off from potential robbers.
And lastly, we arrive at the King’s Chamber, the highest of the interior chambers, where Khufu was buried.
This chamber is made out of precisely-fitted granite blocks, with perfectly carved faces.
The only object in the chamber is the king’s sarcophagus, fashioned out of a single, hollowed-out granite block.
The block is so big that it couldn't fit through the passageways, so it must have been placed here before this room was completed.
The roof above us has several rows of sloping granite blocks that help to bear the weight of the architecture above.
Similar to the Queen’s Chamber, the King’s Chamber has two small shafts that run to the north and south—but these extend to the exterior of the pyramid.
Some archaeologists thought that the shafts were for ventilation, but others argued they allowed the soul of the pharaoh to ascend to the afterlife.
This concludes the tour but is only the beginning of the story of Giza's monuments.
Now tour the nearby Tomb of Queen Meresankh III, the granddaughter of Khufu.
You're standing inside the tomb of Queen Meresankh III, grandaughter of King Khufu who built the Great Pyramid and wife of King Khafre.
Her exquisitely decorated tomb contains scenes of the queen, her mother, and her family, and has been a place of worship for thousands of years.
Meresankh is painted many times in her tomb along with her mother, Hetepheres, on the left. Here she is wearing a leopard-skin garment and followed by her oldest son, Nebemakhet.
Learn who Queen Meresankh III was and why she was buried here.
Welcome to Luxor Temple, the oldest temple in the world that has been a place of continuous worship for over 3,400 years.
In ancient Egyptian, this place was known as ipet resyt, the southern sanctuary. If at any point in the tour, you have a question, click the icon at the bottom right to ask it.
We’re on the east bank of the Nile River in Egypt. Behind us, a processional road lined with sphinxes leads to Karnak Temple in the distance.
You're now in the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings outside Luxor, Egypt.
The Valley of the Kings is in the Theban Necropolis on the West side of the Nile River.
Many tombs are on the west side of the Nile because the sun sets in the West.
This tomb is famous and incredibly special because it was discovered in modern times completely undisturbed.
The entrance to the tomb was completely hidden until it was uncovered only 100 years ago.
Photograph of the original seal on the door of the entrance to the tomb.

Hosted on Spacery