Who Really Built the Pyramids?

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History has not been kind to some of us. We typically refer, for instance, to the Great Pyramid of Giza, built by the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu during the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2575–2465 B.C.). But King Khufu did not build his pyramid; rather, he hired or conscripted others to do the work, a crew that must have numbered in the thousands. What do we know about them?

The answer, until now, has been “very little.” The Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 B.C.) reported that during a visit to Egypt his guides had told him that 100,000 workers had labored 20 years to build Khufu’s pyramid. This is one of the rare ancient texts—perhaps the only one—that even mentions the actual pyramid builders.

Archaeology has recovered a smattering of additional evidence. From masons’ marks left on pyramid buildings, we know something about how the construction took place. Work crews were organized into 1,000-man gangs, with each gang divided into five phyles (the Greek word for “tribe”) of 200 men each. The phyles were further divided into smaller groups of 10 to 20 workers. The hieroglyphic marks also give us the names of some of the gangs. One was called the “Friends of Khufu,” another the “Drunkards of Menkaura” (the Fourth Dynasty king who commissioned the third pyramid at Giza).

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Thousands of workers were needed to construct and maintain the pyramids. They had to be housed and fed; their children had to be cared for. This was a massive project equal to the most dramatic spectacles of a Cecil B. de Mille movie. How could all these workers simply have disappeared?

For almost a century, archaeologists have been asking the same question—without being able to provide an answer. In 1881 British archaeologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie excavated a site near the second pyramid that he called the workmen’s barracks. The Egyptian Department of Antiquities (for whom I work), in conjunction with Mark Lehner of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, recently reexcavated the site. We did not find any settlement debris at all, but we did find artifacts suggesting that this site was a construction storage area for temples of Khafra, who commissioned the second pyramid.

A settlement near the Temple of Menkaura was found in 1906–1907 by George Reisner, a Harvard archaeologist associated with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; however, this settlement housed not workers but priests who maintained the cult of the king.

Later, in the 1930s, Selim Hassan of Cairo University excavated a settlement attached to the tomb of Queen Khentkawes, who ruled Egypt toward the end of the Fourth Dynasty, but this settlement was also for priests.

Now, however, we are beginning to break through the wall of ignorance. The first clue came completely by accident—proving that you never know what secrets may lie beneath Egypt’s sands.

In August 1990, the chief of the Giza pyramid guards, Mohammed Abdel Razak, reported to me that an American tourist was thrown from her horse as the beast stumbled over a previously unknown mud-brick wall. This buried wall was located south of the Wall of the Crow, a large stone boundary wall with a colossal gate that may once have been the entrance to the Giza pyramids. The mud-brick wall turned out to be part of a tomb that consisted of a long vaulted chamber and two false doors, through which the dead could receive offerings from the living. Crude hieroglyphs scrawled on the false doors identified the tomb owners as Ptah-shepsesu and his wife. At the back of the chamber were three burial shafts for the man, his wife and, probably, their son.

In front of the tomb was a square courtyard with low walls of broken limestone. While not as grand as the great stone mastaba tombs of the nobles laid to rest beside the pyramids, Ptah-shepsesu’s tomb nonetheless overshadows the other burials we soon uncovered—in what turned out to be a large cemetery. Clearly he was a man of some rank; attached to his tomb were small shaft burials of people who probably worked under him.

But who were these people? Blocks of granite, basalt and diorite identical to material used in the pyramids had been incorporated into the walls of 051many of these tombs. This suggests that at least some tombs in the cemetery belonged to the pyramid builders or perhaps to later generations of workers who maintained the great monuments. These workers evidently took stone left over from the construction of the pyramid complexes to build their own tombs.

This cemetery contains 700 graves, probably for workmen, along with 40 larger tombs (such as Ptah-shepsesu’s), probably for overseers. The tombs come in a variety of forms; some have stepped domes, others are beehive-shaped, and still others are carved with gabled roofs. From 2 to 6 feet high, the domes cover simple rectangular grave pits, much as the pyramids are built over graves. One small tomb even has a small ramp leading up and around its dome: Could the builder have intended it to represent the construction ramp of a royal pyramid? Other tombs resemble miniature mastabas (consisting of subterranean chambers surmounted by mud-brick or stone superstructures) with tiny courtyards and false stone doors inscribed with the names and titles of the deceased.

We dubbed one remarkable grave the “Egg-dome” tomb. An outer dome, formed of mud bricks plastered over with tafla (desert clay), enclosed an egg-shaped corbelled vault built over a rectangular burial pit. What was the meaning of the double dome? Many Egyptologists believe that the mounds left inside the large tombs of the First Dynasty (c. 2920–2770 B.C.), as well as the rock protrusions found in the pyramids, represented a primeval mound of creation that magically ensured resurrection. The same idea may have been in the minds of those who built the Egg-dome tomb.

Associated with a number of tombs are inscribed false doors or stelae. The crude hieroglyphs record the names of the deceased whose skeletons lay below. On one stela, a man named Khemenu sits at an offering table in front of his wife, Tep-em-nefret. Two false doors are inscribed with the names of women devoted to the goddess Hathor: One tomb belonged to Hetep-repyt (the name means “May [the Goddess] Repyt Be Satisfied”); the other is inscribed with the names of “Hy, Priestess of the Goddess Hathor, Lady of (the) Sycamore Tree” and her son Khuwy. Apparently, these women, wives of the pyramid builders, served as priestesses of Hathor—goddess of love, music, dance and the necropolis, and a counterpart to Horus, god 052of kingship.

In a rectangular niche attached to a small, mud-brick mastaba, we found three stone figurines that appear to represent a worker’s household. One of the statuettes depicts a woman seated on a backless chair with her hands on her knees; she wears a shoulder-length black wig and a white robe that covers her entire body except for her feet. On the chair is an inscription identifying her as Hepeny. A second statuette, badly damaged by salt, depicts her husband, Kaihep. A third statuette is of a kneeling woman, possibly a servant, grinding grain. She wears a beaded collar and a short black wig with carefully rendered locks held in place by a band of white cloth tied around her forehead. Her arms and shoulders suggest the strength needed for her work, and she wears a red bracelet on her right wrist. The oval grinding stone has traces of red paint, probably to represent granite, and is painted white in the middle to indicate flour, which the woman collects in a mound in front of her legs.

This cemetery also contained the burials of two dwarf women, both about 3 feet tall. One of the women may have died giving birth, as the skeleton of an infant was found with her.

While excavating this workers’ cemetery, we came upon a ramp leading to an upper level of burials. These upper tombs—we have found more than 60—are larger and more elegant than those in the lower cemetery. Many are rock-cut, whereas others are built of limestone blocks and mud bricks in the style of the mastaba. The artifacts from these tombs are more finely crafted than those from the lower cemetery, and the inscriptions on the false doors are superior to the crude scrawl found below. These inscriptions include titles such as “Overseer of the Side of the Pyramid,” “Director of the Draftsmen,” “Overseer of Masonry,” “Director of Workers,” “Inspector of the Craftsmen” and “Director for the King’s Work”—indicating the higher status of those buried in the upper cemetery. These tombs, I believe, belonged to the artisans who designed and decorated the Giza pyramid complexes and to the administrators who oversaw their construction.

The ramp from the lower cemetery leads up to a small rectangular court with walls of broken limestone blocks. A shorter second ramp—with a bed of stone rubble paved with mud and walls made of limestone and granite—extends out from the western wall of the court. Pottery from this ramp and the court 053dates to the end of the Fourth Dynasty (c. 2575–2465 B.C.) and the beginning of the Fifth Dynasty (c. 2465–2323 B.C.). A mud seal impression found in the bed of the ramp reads “Djed-khau” (Enduring of Diadems), one of the official names of Djedkare Isesi, a pharaoh of the Fifth Dynasty. These finds suggest that the cemetery was indeed in use just a few generations after the Giza pyramids were built.

At the end of the second ramp is a limestone mastaba tomb, very similar in style to tombs from the Fourth Dynasty. The configuration of this mastaba tomb, like the tombs in the lower cemetery, mimics features of the pyramid complexes. The ramp from the lower cemetery is reminiscent of the causeways that led from the Nile Valley to the pyramids high on the Giza plateau; the court may have represented the pyramid valley; and the mastaba itself may have played the part of a pyramid.

Near the mastaba tomb we found a chamber cut into the bedrock. Inside was an intact burial with pottery. A niche carved into one side of the chamber was sealed with limestone, mud bricks and mud mortar—leaving only a small hole through which we could look inside. As we peered into the niche, we were astonished to see the eyes of a statue staring back at us. We gradually removed the mud bricks and limestone blocks, layer by layer, from top to bottom. Soon, the heads, then the bodies, of three other statues came into view: A large seated figure in the center was flanked by a smaller seated figure and a standing figure on the right and by a small seated figure on the left. Originally, two figures had rested on the left, but one of them, made of wood, had disintegrated into a heap of powder.

All four surviving statues are inscribed “Overseer of the Boat of the Goddess Neith, the King’s Acquaintance, Inty-shedu.” Inty-shedu was probably a carpenter who made boats for the king or for the goddess Neith (boats placed in graves typically symbolized a journey undertaken in the afterlife).

The large statue in the tomb shows an adult Inty-shedu around the time of his death. The standing statue, complete with swaddling cloths, shows Inty-shedu as an infant; the small seated statues show him growing older. The artist carved each face to indicate a stage of life and sculpted muscles and shoulders to show corresponding strength.

Not only did Inty-shedu build his tomb almost literally in the shadow of the pyramids, like the other workers, but he also imitated those monumental homes of the dead in his own way: The niche’s five statues recall the five statues of the pharaoh placed in most pyramid temples from the time of Pharaoh Khafra (c. 2520–2494 B.C.) to the end of the Old Kingdom (c. 2134 B.C.).

Another tomb is inscribed with beautiful hieroglyphics, including the names of the deceased, Nefer-tjes, his primary wife, Nefer-hetepes, his second wife and his 18 children. The tomb’s three false limestone doors are carved with scenes of workers grinding grain, kneading dough and brewing beer—suggesting that Nefer-tjes may have been a baker-brewer. One of the carvings shows Nefer-tjes standing, while below him a man makes beer and another man pours beer into four jugs. An inscription in the tomb provides a list of feast days, along with offerings to be made to the deceased: bread, beer, birds and oxen.

A false door dedicated to Nefer-tjes’s wife Nefer-hetepes is inscribed with hieroglyphics listing offerings of sacred natron water (a solution of baking soda and salt used in mummification), oil, incense, kohl (black eye paint), 14 types of bread, cakes, onions, beef, grain, figs and other fruits, beer and wine. Both husband and wife held prominent positions in the 054worker community. An inscription describes Nefer-heteps with the title “One Known by the King, Weaver.”

An even more elaborate tomb, with three open courts, contains depictions of the owner, Petety, and his wife, Nasy-sokar. A priestess of the goddess Hathor, Nasy-sokar is also described as beloved of the goddess Neith, a deity often associated with funerary rituals. Nasy-sokar is shown standing in front of a chapel in traditional pose, one arm raised on her breast and the other behind her back. She wears a form-fitting dress that leaves her breasts bare, a wide, tight collar and a broad necklace. Perhaps because of the constraining collar, the artist depicted Nasy-sokar with her head titlted slightly forward and her eyes raised to the sky. This gives her face a bold, confident expression, which is subtly enhanced by her darkly outlined eyes. On either side of the entrance to the tomb appear hieroglyphic curses. Petety’s curse reads:

Listen, all of you!

The priest of Hathor will beat twice any one of you

who enters this tomb or does harm to it.

The gods will confront him because I am honored by

his lord.

The god will not allow anything to happen to me.

Anyone who does anything bad to my tomb, then the

crocodile, the hippopotamus, and the lion will eat

him.

From pottery associated with the tombs, along with inscriptions of names and titles, we know that the cemetery dates to the reign of Khufu, who commissioned the Great Pyramid.^a The cemetery remained in use through the rest of the Fourth Dynasty and the Fifth Dynasty. So far, however, we believe that only about 20 percent of the tombs have 055been found.

The bodies buried in the Giza workers’ cemetery were not mummified, which was a prerogative only of royalty and nobility. But the skeletal remains tell us much about the lives of these people. We know from DNA evidence, for example, that the pyramid workers were Egyptians (not foreign slaves, as is sometimes suggested).

Studies by Azza Sarry el-Din and Fawziya Hussein of Egypt’s National Research Center and Fathi Saleh of Cairo University reveal that males and females are equally represented, mostly buried in the fetal position with the head to the north and the face looking east. Many of the men died between ages 30 and 35. Below the age of 30, a higher mortality was found in females than in males—which undoubtedly reflects the hazards of childbirth. By contrast, women buried in the upper-class mastaba cemetery west of the Khufu pyramid lived from five to ten years longer than did the working women and artisans laid to rest in our cemetery.

And we have found evidence that life was not only shorter for the workers but also more brutish. A number of skulls of both women and men were smashed in on the left side, which may indicate that the injuries resulted from assaults by right-handed attackers. Many skeletons showed signs of degenerative arthritis in the back and knees, a sure indication of heavy labor. Workers buried in both the upper and lower cemetery also found themselves, frequently enough, with broken bones; especially common were fractures of the ulna and the radius (bones of the upper arm) and of the fibula (the more delicate of the two lower leg bones). On the other hand, most of the fractures had healed completely, with good realignment of the bone, indicating that they had been set with a splint. We also found two men with amputated limbs; one lost his left leg and the other his right arm. The healed ends of the bones indicate that the amputations were successful.

So archaeology is painting a new picture of the building of the pyramids. We can now dispense with the notion that these great structures were forcibly constructed by whip-driven slaves—as suggested in the biblical account of Moses, by Herodotus and by the first-century A.D. historian Josephus. Taking up this myth, the 20th-century German novelist Thomas Mann described the pyramid builders as “scourged and panting slaves.”

Instead, it looks as though workers and artisans lived in somewhat separate communities, with the workers buried in the lower cemetery and the wealthier artisans buried in the upper cemetery. Both groups carried on with their lives, making bread and drinking beer, marrying, bearing and supporting their beloved children, healing their wounds, saving up for funeral expenses.

Life was hard, of course, especially for the workers, but they were not slaves. Instead, they were probably peasants conscripted on a rotating basis, and they worked under the supervision of highly skilled artisans, who designed not only the monumental royal pyramid complexes but also their own, more modest burial tombs.