New tombs have been discovered at Giza further supporting the view that the pyramids were not built by slaves but by free skilled workers.
“These tombs were built beside the king’s pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves…If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king’s.” said Dr Zahi Hawass.
There is also evidence that the builders ate a luxurious diet of meat, not the sort of thing slaves would have been fed. Records show that each day 21 buffalo and 23 sheep were sent to the plateau to feed the workers.
More from the website of Dr Hawass:
The most important tomb is the one belonging to Idu. It is rectangular in structure with a mud brick outside casing covered with plaster. It has several burial shafts cased with white limestone, as well as niches in front of each shaft.
Adel Okasha, supervisor of the excavation, said that the upper part of Idu’s tomb had a vaulted shape, symbolizing the eternal hill from which the human creation began, according to the Memphis religious tradition. This shape, said Okasha, is strong evidence that this tomb dates to the early 4th Dynasty. This shape is also similar to those of tombs located beside Snefru’s pyramid in Dahshur.
On the western side of Idu’s tomb, the mission uncovered another collection of workmen’s tombs as well as the remains of coffins, while on its southern side another large tomb has been found. It is a rectangular shaped tomb built of mud brick with several burial shafts, each one containing a bent skeleton along with sherds of clay.
Knowledge of the tombs belonging to the builders of the pyramids is not new. Mark Lehner worked for many years at Giza to uncover the tombs of the workers and has documented these tombs in detail.
For the past decade the Giza Mapping Project has been focused on the ‘Lost City’ of the pyramid builders at Giza. The project uncovered evidence indicating that the pyramids were built by skilled workers and not by slaves as suggested by popular Hollywood movies.