pyramid builders

There is exciting news breaking right now in Egypt. An archaeological team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass has discovered several new tombs that belong to the workers who built the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre.

“This is the first time to uncover tombs like the ones that were found during the 1990’s, which belong to the late 4th and 5th Dynasties (2649-2374 BC),” said Dr. Hawass in the press release.

When we think of Giza we tend to think of the Giza Pyramids. However, while the pyramids were under construction, there was an extensive city to the south that supported the workers. It included houses, bakeries, magazines and a hypostyle hall (See the video below, in which Mark Lehner descibes his work researching this area).

In Zahi Hawass in the Valley of the Kings:  Part 1, Dr. Hawass caught us up on how excavations were progressing in the Central Valley area of the Valley of the Kings, particularly with the northern side, between the tombs of Ramesses II and Merneptah, and the area to the south of Tutankhamun’s tomb.  Watch part 2!

One of the most impressive and startling structures in the world is the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, yet the construction of it remains the subject of much debate and discussion to this very day.

Dr Mark Lehner, an archaeologist at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and Harvard Semitic Museum, has given an exclusive video interview to Heritage Key in which he explains what he and his team are doing in their latest excavation.

While Heritage Key's virtual engineers and construction team are still building away on our Nile Villa - a virtual, avatar-accessible reconstruction of an ancient Egyptian villa from the city of Akhetaten, Amarna - Flickr user Higdon took a more physical approach, and resurrected an ancient Egyptian nobleman's villa using Lego blocks.

IMGP6481, originally uploaded by d-higdon.