Giza Cave Complex aka 'The Lost Underworld of the Pharaohs' is Just a Rock Cut Tomb

Submitted by Ann on Wed, 09/09/2009 - 15:34

Location of the rock cut tomb slash underworld in Giza Andrew Collins promised the world that soon he'll unravel Egypt's best kept secret in 'Beneath the Pyramids: Egypt's Greatest Secret Uncovered', but it seems that Dr. Zahi Hawass has beaten Collins to this, stating that the so-called cave-complex is nothing but a rock cut tomb, already thoroughly explored and examined.

Dr. Hawass says in a statement on his website: "This story shows how people who do not have a background in archaeology use the media and the Internet to make headlines. Unfortunately, when people make statements without knowing the history of the subject, they may mislead the public. For example, if a person did not know the history of the Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza, they might say that it came from a lost civilization, but scholars of Egypt have disproved that. When I saw this Internet story about a new discovery at Giza, I knew it was misleading. The article reports that a huge system of tunnels and caves has been found; however, I can say that there is no underground cave complex at this site."

We know everything about this site as it currently stands, though new discoveries may come about through continued scientific excavation.

The statement stresses that the Giza plateau is one of the most well studied sites in Egypt; it has been explored, mapped and recorded by many archaeologists, including Dr. Hawass: "We know everything about this site as it currently stands, though new discoveries may come about through continued scientific excavation." And it's obvious that Dr. Zahi does not think of Collins' research as scientific.

The rock-cut tomb that Collins claims to be 'The Lost Underworld of the Pharaos' was discovered an opened in 1816 by Henry Salt and Giovanni Caviglia. When they explored it, they called it a catacomb because it contains some tunnels and corridors cut deep into the rock. Years later, Howard Vyse and John Shae Perring came to examine the rock cut tomb. It has also recently been re-explored by the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The tomb is also known to have been used as a storeroom by George Reisner during his excavations at Giza in the early 20th century.

The first hall of the tomb during the recent SCA excavations The 'catacombs' are about 3.2 meters high and the entrance leads south into the front hall, shaped like an inverted T. From there two halls are visible, one to the right and one to the left. The left leads to a big room cut into the rock, about 6 meters long, which contained Latin inscriptions on the ceiling, showing that this tomb has been opened throughout the ages. To the right there is another square hole cut into the rock, which leads to a descending passage filled with sand, and contains pottery sherds, bones and other artifacts. There are other passageways cut into the rock from the main corridors, but these are short tunnels. (Find the 'Entrance to the Lost Underworld' on Google Maps or Google Earth.)

One must admit that this sounds a less fascinating than Collins' report on his exploration of the 'cave complex': "We explored the caves before the air became too thin to continue. They are highly dangerous, with unseen pits and hollows, colonies of bats and venomous spiders." Recent video material of the 'catacombs' released by Collins does not even contain any of the above-mentioned horrors, which could make the footage at least a bit more intertaining, so it seems Dr. Hawass is right when stating Collins is just trying to get into the headlines. And here Collins has a problem, as Dr Zahi is just as good - or probably even better - at being the center of media attention.

"My academic opinion, based on the official report, is that this is likely a catacomb cut during the Graeco-Roman Period that was used for the burial of sacred animals, similar to the catacombs at Saqqara and Tuna el-Gebel," says Dr Hawass. He continues: "These burials of sacred animals are well known in Egyptological literature, and were made for the purpose of offering to the gods, they have nothing to do with the idea of a lost civilization or other unscientific ideas that people come up with and circulate on the Internet."

The conclusion: 'Beneath the Pyramids: Egypt's Greatest Secret Uncovered' might be a good horror book - especially for egyptologists who dig 'scientifically correct' - and although your inner pyramidiot might enjoy it, don't expect any great mysteries revealed?

Read 5 comments, or leave your own

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Ann Wuyts (follow me: e-mail or

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Last three pieces by this author:

'No ceremonial burial for the Iceman', respond Otzi researchers | Fiery Pool: The Maya, the Mythic Sea and the Turtle | Stonehenge Acoustics: England's First Ministry of Sound?

Ann 'Vint' Wuyts is looking after the Heritage Key community and avatar health & entertainment. She is slightly fascinated by everything to do with 3D technology and what's commonly defined as 'Web 2.0'. When she grows up, Ann - eventually - wants to be a mummy. Favourite game: Buzzword Bingo /…

Comments

Andrew Collins:

Hi,

I wish to respond to Dr Zahi Hawass' official statement on what he calls "Collins' Cave Discovery". See

http://www.drhawass.com/node/303

Although Dr Hawass describes in some detail what we refer to as the Tomb of the Birds, in which the caves are to be found, there is nothing in what he says to convince me that he had prior knowledge of the caves we entered and recorded for the first time in March 2008. In fact, there are a number of factual errors in his statement, which are inexcusable, and imply that he knows less than he is letting on. These are brought out in separate statements issued by myself and Nigel Skinner-Simpson, the two principal researchers involved in the cave discoveries. These are posted on www.andrewcollins.com, and elsewhere.

Hawass tries to dismiss the cave complex as simply us confusing the maze-like layout of the rock-cut tomb in question, but this is never going to wash as the tomb is relatively simple in design, and our extensive library of pictures clearly show that we entered extensive natural cave passages, which we saw penetrate the bedrock for at least 100 meters. Beyond this is the fact that Henry Salt records that he and Giovanni Caviglia explored these same passages for a distance of "several hundred yards", before they came upon a spacious chamber that led into three others of equal size, from which "labyrinthick" passages, one of which Caviglia followed for "300 feet further".

Dr Hawass states that the tomb, and Salt and Caviglia's exploration of the tomb, is listed in Porter and Moss, a standard reference work for tombs in Egypt. He is mistaken, it is not listed here, or on gizapyramids.org, another excellent reference source for tombs at Giza.

Indeed, we have been unable to find any modern reference to the existence either of the tomb or the caves.

If anyone has evidence to the contrary, please let us know. We will happily update our findings.

In all honesty, I think Dr Hawass has grossly underestimated, and/or is downplaying, the nature of the caves, and their significance in the evolution of the Giza pyramid field.

Thus the mystery only deepens.

Hawass's response and our counter claims also feature as a blog on Discovery news archaeology site:

See http://blogs.discovery.com/news_archaeorama/

There are more of our counter claims here.

Thank you.

Andrew Collins

Thu, 10-09-2009 18:20

Ann:

Mr Collins, what about the evidence that recently surfaced from the archives of the Bostom Museum of Fine Arts?

Wed, 16-09-2009 21:21

Visitor:

Andrew Collins responded at www.andrewcollins.com/page/news/plan.htm

Sat, 19-09-2009 23:17

E D:

This is all quite absurd. Andrew Collins seems to be perpetrating a hoax. The only reason he is able to succeed at convincing anyone that there are extensive natural caverns attached to this tomb, is because most of us websurfers can't physically go to Egypt and look for ourselves. The evidence of an existing floorplan of the tomb (no cavern), and Zahi Hawass' statement that there are no caverns there, is very strong evidence that Andrew Collins is not correct. It's been a few months now since Andrew made his claim in the press, and if the caverns existed, then it would be easy for any tourist (like he was himself) to go there and in less than 5 minutes verify the sensational news of their existence. However, that hasn't happened! He's created a visually confusing video with music soundtrack which probably creatively melds footage of the tomb on the Giza plateau, with some cave someplace else. I don't find it convincing, at all. Andrew is trying to sell a book and promote himself. Check out his website and the other kinds of things he's interested in and decide for yourself how credible Andrew's testimony is. Obviously, I don't buy it.

Sun, 06-12-2009 01:16

Nigel Skinner-Simpson:

I would like to assure E D that Mr. Collins is not perpetuating a hoax. I was there at the time. The natural formations shown in the photographs and video are accessed from a chamber located at the far end of the tomb's main north-south corridor on the west side.

My own involvement in this project is connected with the historical record of NC2 as originally documented by Vyse, Perring, Salt and Caviglia. My interest now is concentrated on locating any other material related to the tomb, for example the unpublished plan recently made available by the MFA and a further unpublished plan that I found in a Reisner expedition diary. The MFA plans do not show the natural formations although the expedition diary plan does at least show the entrance to the chamber from which they are accessed.

I have nothing to gain financially from Mr. Collins's book and I would be the first to blow the whistle if he was being untruthful about the location of the natural formations shown in his photographs and video. Although I have not commented on this story to-date (with one or two rare exceptions) I hope to write a short posting which may go some way to clarifying matters regarding the account given by Dr. Hawass in the not-too-distant future.

Regards,

Nigel Skinner-Simpson

Sun, 06-12-2009 04:11

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