Ancient Pyramid Guard

Scientists recreate primitive machines used by Ancient Egyptians to guard the Great Pyramid against looters.

18:16 20 July 2016

A leading Egyptologist claims to have found evidence proving that builders of the Egypt’s Great Pyramid employed intricate defences to keep away thieves. The “primitive machine” is said to have been installed to stop anyone from gaining access to the chamber of King Khufu.

 

Dr Mark Lehner, director of the Giza Plateau Mapping Project and an archaeologist at the University of Chicago, said that the defensive system involved the use of granite slabs to block off access to the chamber. Three other giant granite blocks were slid down a ramp to the passageway below to cut off access to the inner sanctum.

 

Dr Lehner said: 'Here Khufu's builders designed a line of defence against anyone who would enter the King's chamber had they got this far.

 

'These grooves and protrusions are not decorative. They are part of a very primitive machine.'

 

However, it appears that the defences did not stop the looters from gaining Khufu’s tomb, which is almost empty and thought to have been plundered shortly after it was completed.

 

Khufu ruled Egypt between 2589BC and 2566BC and is widely regarded as one of the most powerful Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom in Ancient Egypt.