“The Lost Pyramid of Egypt”.. Revealing the crime of looting in the tomb of the unknown princess

In the barren desert of northern Egypt, specifically in an ancient royal cemetery, an amazing discovery was made. Egyptian archaeologists discovered a tomb that was located under a pyramid, and it is still closed with a rock weighing 10 tons.

The film “The Lost Pyramid of Egypt” - which was broadcast by Al Jazeera Documentary - follows a team of the world’s most prominent Egyptologists trying to solve the mystery of a closed burial ground for 4,000 years, revealing amazing secrets about an unknown princess and an ancient crime in one of the most mysterious eras in Egyptian history.

The work of the team of Egyptologists began in the Dahshur area, which is located 24 kilometers south of Cairo, and contains one of the most mysterious royal tombs in Egypt, in addition to several pyramids still hidden under the desert sand.

Dahshur site...a unique discovery at the base of the supposed pyramid

Egyptologist Chris Nonton has spent his career chasing these lost tombs, and he came to Dahshur, where Egyptian archaeologists made an exciting discovery, when workers in a large quarry in the area found blocks of finely cut limestone buried deep in the sand, before the Ministry of Egyptian antiquities excavation, to discover an archaeological site built entirely of stones, consisting of large blocks of limestone topped with pieces of clay bricks, which led scientists to believe in the existence of a pyramid.

Although the picture does not suggest that it is a pyramid, the stones indicate that it is the base of a supposed pyramid, and that there was once a mud brick structure at the top, which was covered with shiny white limestone.

The base of a lost pyramid was found, with an unidentified burial at the bottom

Excavations revealed a corridor that previously extended from the entrance to the depths of the pyramid, and led the stairs to an underground complex, which is the heart of the pyramid. Huge blocks of stones protect the only entrance to the tomb, as well as any mummy or treasure that may be hidden inside.

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities granted permission to lift the rock to reveal what is inside, in an operation managed by the general director of the Dahshur site, archaeologist Adel Okasha, who considers the site a unique discovery. Although about 100 pyramids were previously discovered, they did not all contain intact burial chambers.

The chaos of the vault.. Lifting the lid reveals a shock

At the time this discovered tomb was built, the Egyptians had begun burying their dead in the pyramids more than a thousand years ago.

After several attempts and efforts that lasted for days, the team struggled to lift the 10-ton rock cover, which the pyramid builders were determined to make moving impossible. It was time to open the closed burial chamber of the pyramid for the first time, so that the tomb would reveal its secrets for the first time in nearly 4,000 years. But what the team saw shocked them all. Although the chamber was completely closed, its contents were in a state of chaos.

Move the ten-ton rock cover to reveal the secret of the mysterious vault

The archaeologists had hopes of uncovering the treasure, but they now had a puzzle to solve. From the outside, the vault appeared to be completely intact and that everything was in its place, but from the inside it was not like that. It was chaotic and there were things missing, which made the team think they had found something. An old crime scene. It seems that someone preceded them to the vault and stole it, but is it possible that the body is still there?

Missing mummification organs... a forensic investigation into the crime scene

Archaeologist Adel Okasha began a forensic investigation, and after the team members protected themselves from any ancient bacteria that might be inside the tomb, and while carefully sifting through the debris on the ground, they found their first clue, which was a coffin lid or a wooden coffin in the shape of a human.

Human coffins mimic the shape and face of the person buried inside them, and they were used for the first time in the Middle Kingdom, but the coffin lid that they found was severely damaged, and they did not find any trace of the mummy, but they found bones that suggest that someone was buried in the place.

Debris of a coffin lid or a wooden coffin shaped like a human was found

Most interesting was the ornate wooden box. In the past, it would have contained four jars, each containing the mummified parts of the lungs, stomach, intestines and liver, but all were missing. On the side of the box were traces of hieroglyphic writing, perhaps the best chance archaeologists have to solve the mystery.

It became clear that there were no passages or tunnels leading to the tomb, and the only way to enter was by lifting the rock, which had no evidence of movement since the tomb was closed. Now the team has two questions to answer: Who was buried in this pyramid? How did chaos spread inside a tightly closed and inviolable vault?

The tombs of the Pharaohs...the wealth of the Last Day exposed to plunder

The investigation began with one of the wonders of the ancient world that still exists today, which is the Great Pyramid of Giza, which was built 500 years before the construction of the newly discovered pyramid, and is twice its size.

The ancient Egyptians believed that the Pharaoh should be buried with his golden treasures so that he could take them with him to the afterlife. They would preserve his body with salt, then embalm it with oils, cover it with jewels, and wrap it in linen. The challenge after that was to protect all of these riches, and they had to preserve the king’s body for more than The places are dark, deep and damp.

The great vestibule in the Great Pyramid of Khufu leading to the tomb of King Khufu

While the newly discovered pyramid had an underground burial place, the Great Pyramid had a tomb high in its structure, and was reached by an ascending corridor known as the “Great Vestibule,” which is considered one of the most wonderful architectural miracles in the entire ancient world. It reaches a height of 8 meters with arched walls, and ends In a tunnel, and like the newly discovered pyramid, it was closed by a rock.

Alabaster stone...a piece engraved with the king's name that was left by thieves

The first records of the opening of the tomb of Khufu go back more than a thousand years, and just like the new pyramid, the treasure and the mummy were missing, but in the Great Pyramid there was no evidence of what happened to the treasure, and as for the newly discovered pyramid, the thieves left pieces for the team to analyze, as it appeared. A new piece of evidence outside the entrance, an alabaster stone engraved with hieroglyphics, could provide a clue as to who was buried here.

An alabaster stone engraved with poorly written hieroglyphs for some funerary inscriptions

Professor Aidan Dodson, an expert in ancient texts, examines the stone and points out that it contains a poorly written part of some ordinary funerary inscriptions. These inscriptions include oval shapes in which the name of the Egyptian pharaoh is written.

“Dodson” explains that there is a group of three symbols indicating that the name of the king is “Amni Kimau,” and his pyramid was discovered in the 1950s, approximately one and a half kilometers from this pyramid, and therefore the important question is: What is this doing here?

One possible answer is that the pharaohs sometimes built pyramids to camouflage and deceive tomb raiders.

The Princess of the Pyramid... the remains of a mysterious figure from the classical era

It was possible that the newly discovered pyramid was actually built for camouflage, but they found bone remains inside it, so there was a person buried in it, and the remains of the coffin lid discovered in the cemetery may help identify him, a task undertaken by Egyptologist Dr. Yasmine El-Shazly, as she, along with... The restoration team cleaned and put the pieces of wood together to reveal a beautifully carved face, but the amazing thing was that it is not a king, it is a mysterious woman. The pyramid belongs to a female princess, which is completely unusual, but what is the reason for her burial in this pyramid?

The answer may lie in another item found in her grave, a box decorated with hieroglyphs, but the disappointing thing is that the name engraved on it was completely unclear.

The face of the mysterious princess who lived at the end of the Middle Kingdom in the 18th century BC

To understand more about the princess, the team had to study the era in which she lived, which was the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, which extends from 2030 to 1650 BC. At its peak, society was prosperous and progressive. This kingdom is known as the “Classical Age of Egypt.” This era was highlighted by the first... A historical novel entitled “The Story of Sinuhe,” in addition to new techniques for working with gold to create the finest jewelry of the ancient world.

In the Cairo Museum, the treasures of another princess from the Middle Kingdom are kept. It is Princess Khnomet, whose jewels remained, because she was buried in a hidden tomb, but the mysterious princess was buried in her own pyramid, which indicates that she may be of great importance. According to Professor Aidan Dodson, this means that she was a potential heir to the throne but died early.

This matter raised an important question. Is it possible that the princess was preparing to join the list of pharaohs?

Days of famine... disturbances and plundering in the last days of the Middle Kingdom

If the mysterious princess had actually ruled Egypt, her name would have been included in one of the most important documents of Egyptologists, which is the “Turin Papyrus,” which Professor Aidan Dodson defines as a historical account of the kings of ancient Egypt from the days of the gods until 1300 BC.

“Aidan” did not find any records of a female pharaoh in the period we are talking about, but the inscription on the pyramid indicates that her father is the Pharaoh “Amini Kimau,” who ruled in the first half of the 18th century BC. This means that “Amini Kimao” and the mysterious princess lived at the end of the Middle Kingdom, when the prosperous era was drawing to a close, and poverty and famine were widespread.

Pharaonic drawings representing the era of famine that occurred at the end of the Middle Pharaonic Kingdom

Dr. Chris Nonton describes this era as very difficult for Egypt, as there was a series of disturbances represented by a drop in the level of the Nile River and the destruction of crops, which has always led to disturbances in Egyptian history.

Under these circumstances, it can be imagined that people would take advantage of the opportunities available to them. When there are tombs containing precious objects and metals, tomb robbing may become very attractive. Torture and execution were not sufficient deterrents against these people. Therefore, the pyramids’ security system reached new heights by using large granite stones. It is lowered by a “sand hydraulic” system, and it is impossible to move it again, and therefore it is impossible for any thief to lift the cover to take what he wants or to put the cover back in its place as if nothing had happened.

The question remains: How was the vault violated?

Amenemhat III... a secret buried in the most complex maze

The answer to how the tomb was violated may be buried about a kilometer and a half away, that is, at the Black Pyramid, whose structure is similar to that of the Princess’ Pyramid. For the first time, cameras are allowed inside, revealing the most complex mazes. They were built for Pharaoh Amenemhat III and his queens in the 19th century BC through a confusing system of corridors and dead ends, with the aim of complicating the matter and confusing any potential thieves and directing them towards false paths.

When the pyramid was first discovered in the 1970s, the corridors were filled with huge blocks of stone. This prevented the corridors from collapsing, and formed an impenetrable barrier to the queen’s most valuable possessions. Like the princess's pyramid puzzle, the canopic box was the only remaining treasure, and while the princess's box was made of wood, the queen's box was made of the finest alabaster.

The alabaster canopic box in the Black Pyramid and its wooden counterpart in the Lost Pyramid

The complex maze, empty tombs and stone-blocked passages were supposed to make the pyramid impregnable, yet it was broken into. Why didn't security measures prevent the thieves from accessing the royal gold?

One reason is that the pyramids appear to have been stolen shortly after they were closed, and so the theft would have been by those who knew the means and underpasses that led to the pyramid.

Burial ceremonies...the crime theory of smart inside thieves

Egyptologist Chris Nonton collects all the evidence to solve the ancient mystery. How was the closed pyramid vault stolen?

There is no road leading into the tomb, and no evidence of any entry point, so there is no evidence that the thieves entered, but even so they were able to lift the sealing stone and break into the inner area, and there are items missing.

The mummy was not there, but there were bones, and therefore there was a person buried in the pyramid, and there was evidence of the owner’s identity, which were parts of the coffin of a woman wearing Hathor’s wig, and a canopic box with a series of inscriptions on it, and all of this is enough to say that she is the daughter of the Pharaoh.” Amini Kimao.”

After investigating every way in which her tomb could be stolen, Chris Nonton was left with only one theory, which was that the theft occurred before the final closing stone was lowered.

Fearing for their treasures, the Pharaohs began burying their dead in the Valley of the Kings, 400 km from Cairo.

The Egyptologist imagines what happened; The princess's mummy is ready, high-ranking priests are participating, the ritual is complete, and then the final step was to insert the mummy into the tomb. He confirms that if the theft occurred at this stage, it occurred with the knowledge of some of the people participating in the ceremony.

In those difficult times the most upright and dignified priest might resort to crime. Although Nonten believes that it is a major crime that contradicts the correct way of doing things among the ancient Egyptians, he says that there is no other explanation left.

They took her treasures, smashed her coffin open and violated the mummy's sanctity to access the precious jewels on her body before closing the tomb for good.

The final important irony is that the “sand hydraulic” system, which was intended to prevent thieves from entering, would also have prevented inspection of the contents of the tomb. This was the perfect crime, and thousands of years would pass before we reached the crime scene, and everyone would be surprised that the tomb had been stolen.

“Hatshepsut”... A journey from the canopy to the books of eternity

The ancient Egyptians buried their pharaohs in pyramids for more than a thousand years, but the princess's tomb was one of the last royal pyramids to be built. With the end of the period of turmoil in the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the new state, this great tradition was coming to an end. From this moment, the burial of the pharaohs would begin 400 miles south of Cairo, hidden in the Valley of the Kings.

Although most of these tombs were also looted, in 1922 the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tutankhamun was discovered loaded with a treasure of gold, which meant that the attempts of the tomb raiders were finally thwarted.

On the “Canopy Box” is inscribed in hieroglyphs the name “Princess Hatshepsut” or “Hatshepsut.”

In Dahshur, the pyramids were left to collapse, and the name of the mysterious princess was lost. For the ancient Egyptians, this was the worst that could happen.

The team tries again to read the name on the “Canopy Box,” and using the latest imaging techniques, Egyptologist Adel Okasha disassembles the severely damaged hieroglyphs, revealing her name for the first time in nearly four thousand years, declaring that the princess’s title is “Set-Ni-Sut.” Her name is “Hat-sheb-Sut”, which means “Hatshepsut”.

There are no records of the newly discovered Princess Hatshepsut, yet she was an important enough figure to be buried in her own pyramid. Now we can say her name, and Princess Hatshepsut was finally able to achieve immortality.