The Underworld Beneath the Pyramids of Giza
Buzzing about the Internet over the past few days has been the news of the rediscovery of some very large caves and tunnels underneath the Giza plateau.
English author Andrew Collins, with the help of Egyptological researcher Nigel Skinner-Simpson, has located the entrance to the caves by digging through old accounts of past explorers. First discovered by the Italian explorer Giovanni Caviglia in the early 1800s these explorations were documented by Henry Salt.
From Salt’s account:
“The next undertaking of Caviglia was to examine the catacombs in the vicinity of the Pyramids. Those to the west of them do not appear to have possessed any peculiar interest; he and Mr. Salt entered some few, but found them too uninviting to induce them to prosecute their research ; and though Captain Caviglia subsequently penetrated into one of the many labyrinthian passages observed, to the distance of three hundred feet, yet he met with nothing to compensate him for the attempt.
Writing of other areas explored on the plateau, Salt continues:
To the southward of the second pyramid some caves were met with, cut in the rock bounding the platform on which it stands, that appear worthy of notice. In several of them are traces of the painted-sculpture which once adorned the walls, and in most of them are mummy-pits all emptied of their contents by the Arabs. In one of these caves was found a singular roof carved in imitation of layers of date trees, affording an additional proof that the Egyptians borrowed their ideas of architecture from the obgects that surrounded them. Upon the rock, bounding the northern side of the platform, are carved some remarkable hieroglyphics.
Another set of catacombs was also explored, the eastern chamber of which is commonly called the Sheik’s residence. It is divided into several compartments, and on the walls are some curious pieces of sculpture, representing a party of musicians playing on different instruments, and a procession of deer and other animals, part of which are being led up an ascending plane to the presence of a figure as large as life. On the north side of the same apartment is carved the figure of an hippopotamus on the borders of a circle, which possibly once formed part of a zodiac; the sign Pisces still remaining, though all the rest of the wall has been destroyed. In a small interior chamber was found a granite sarcophagus, nearly buried in the sand, which, on its being excavated, proved to be without ornament.
Though the caves just described are only at a short distance from some others which were noticed, yet the two sets are so completely separated by the sands, that travellers frequently overlook either the one or the other in the course of their research. Several of the apartments in the last mentioned catacombs are particularly interesting, on account of the figures sculptured on the walls.”
Collins entered the cavernous underworld through a crack in the wall of one of the tombs on the west side of the Giza plateau braving the bats, spiders and other creepy crawlies to explore the caves…and has the photos to prove it. He has also written a book about it which is to be released next month.
Apparently irked by the press release, Zahi Hawass defiantly stated:
“There are no new discoveries to be made at Giza.
We know everything about the plateau”
Which is at odds with a previous statement made by Hawass in relation to Giza:
“I believe that we’ve only found about 30 percent of Egyptian monuments,
that 70 percent of them still lie buried underneath the ground.
You never know what the sand will hide in the way of secrets.”
Read more at Discovery: Cave Complex Allegedly Found Under Giza Pyramids
Related reading:
The life and correspondence of Henry Salt. Followed by Egypt, a poem by a traveller, by H. Salt. (1834): Volume 1, Volume 2
Audio: Interview with Andrew Collins by Philip Coppens
Andrew Collins’ website: Beneath the Pyramids
Nigel Skinner Simpson’s website Towers Online
Related posts:
- Hawass Confirms Existence of Cave System Beneath the Pyramids In what appears to be a backflip on his earlier...
- Video of the Caves Beneath Giza Watch as Andrew Collins explores the caves underneath the Giza...
- Hawass Debunks Collins’ ‘Giza Caves’ Dr Zahi Hawass, the head of the Supreme Council of...
- The Latest on the Caves Under Giza Plateau Giza Plateau: September 10, 1983 Andrew Collins has once again...
- Giza Caves Sealed Shut With Iron Gate Entrance to the 'Giza Caves'. Photo by Larry Hunter The...
Follow me on Twitter
I’ve never seen a press release saying ‘I’ve discovered something, but give you the details – if any – later’ gather such ‘hype’, not even those of the beloved Dr. Zahi.
Honestly, I find it a sad thing we’re all giving this book that much attention, even before it has proven it really contains any ground breaking discoveries, rather than another entertaining pyramidiot theory. :/
[...] at Talking Pyramids with a review of Beneath the Pyramids, by Andrew Collins. Read about it in The Underworld Beneath the Pyramids of Giza. When you are done, scan down to Vincent’s Related Reading and there is a clickable audio [...]
Yes there is always a lot of hype with any announcement concerning the Great Pyramid. I suspect it is as Salt described it, a natural network of tunnels and caves and Collins has interpreted what these caves might have meant to the ancient Egyptians.
Let’s not give up and maybe walk away from an unfound treasure of knowledge not known before. How else did we find the previous Sumerian text and sea scrolls and so many others that helps the world better understand what went on and what might happen. Sawahi might be innocent and then again he might be sitting on a world of knowledge we may need. If there was nothing there as Sawahi says then why not let a couple of men explore the caves. There is definitely something down there for him to get so uptight about it. And religion is not a good answer to keep men out…the things in those caves were probably kept there for preservation so that they may be found and not destroyed by something that may have happened. Yes we need to know….ancient knowledge was amazing and we may need it.