A recently discovered set of tombs outside of Cairo is believed to be the final resting place for many who built Egypt’s Great Pyramids. The workers’ skeletons were discovered with their heads pointing West and their feet to the East, as ancient Egyptian rituals dictated.
The skeletons were also accompanied by jars filled with food and other items to help them in the afterlife. Zahi Hawass, the chief Egyptian archaeologist, pointed out that the recovery of these and other workers’ tombs debunks the popular myth that the pyramids were built by slaves; instead they were likely paid workers.
This will undoubtedly also come as a shock to some writers (such as Erich von Daniken, author of the best-selling classic work of pseudoscience "Chariots of the Gods"), who believe that the pyramids were not even made by humans. Von Daniken and others claim that ancient Egyptians had neither the skills, nor the intelligence nor tools to create the massive pyramids.
Yep, obviously it was extraterrestrials in UFOs who showed up millennia ago to construct the pyramids. If the Egyptian archaeologists are correct that the pyramids’ builders were buried there, then according to von Daniken, an alien graveyard should have been discovered. Perhaps the Egyptian equivalent of Hangar 18 or Area 51, with thousands of little gray alien bodies neatly entombed with jars of alien food (maybe menudo or those freeze-dried astronaut ice-cream sandwiches?).
The idea that Egyptians could not have built the pyramids is not only incredibly insulting (the pyramid shape is the most obvious, basic, and stable form of construction there is), but takes away from one of the world’s most amazing achievements. That the pyramids were created by humans instead of aliens makes them more amazing, not less.
When I visited the Giza pyramids in 1997, I was amazed. I was shocked at how hot the city was, and how dusty and congested the streets were. I was surprised at how close the pyramids actually are to downtown Cairo (about a ten-minute cab ride).
But I was even more surprised and dismayed at how many New Age tours I saw, with their healing crystals and brochures about “mystical energy centers” and wild theories of alien contact. They had co-opted and hijacked the true history, culture, and achievements of a fascinating and rich culture, replacing it with New Age mysticism.
Tags: Ancient Civilizations, Ancient Egypt, Archaeoastronomy, Archaeology, Pyramids
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