NEW | Giza's Hidden History: Ancient Structures Older than the Great Pyramid

Over the years I’ve produced a number of videos looking at evidence for pre-4th dynasty occupation of the Giza Plateau and I ran through all the evidence in this recent video: https://youtu.be/41Z5hfvUK_Q?si=m6kgOJni4eXk_-_I which includes some new scientific evidence that puts the idea beyond any reasonable doubt.

We see spikes of man-made copper contamination at Giza in the Pre-Dynastic and Early Dynastic, there is the pre-4th dynasty Wadi Cemetery to the west of the Great Pyramid, as well as early dynastic tombs to the south, and we find some examples of pre-dynastic pottery, as well as some early dynastic vessels and clay sealings in the Kromer dump, also thought to be pre-4th dynasty.

There is also a very strong argument that the Sphinx enclosure, even if it was just an old quarry, pre-dates the pyramids, as well as the first phase of the Sphinx Temple, which I think could well have been an old harbour building.

In this video we turn our attention to the Central Field at Giza, which in the Old Kingdom was an active quarry. Then, what remained was turned into a mastaba field, some built, some rock-cut, and they housed the human remains and grave goods of 4th and 5th dynasty royalty and officials.

In this mastaba field there is evidence of pre-4th dynasty rock-cut architecture, which could indicate Giza was the home of the elite in Pre-Dynastic Northern Egypt. Watch the video to learn more!

Buy the new book, 'Rewriting the History of the Great Sphinx' by Colin Reader at https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781805832096

Video Contents:

0:00 Introduction
0:28 Recap on Pre-Dynastic Giza
2:34 Hidden in the Central Field
3:29 History of the Palace Facade Decoration
5:50 Pre-4th Dynasty Origins of the Tomb of Khentkawes
11:41 Pre-4th Dynasty Origins of the Tomb of Kai
14:55 Ancient Decoration of a Natural Escarpment
18:55 Pre-Dynastic or Early Dynastic Decoration?
21:16 Concluding Remarks

Sources:

Reader, C: Rewriting the History of the Great Sphinx, 2026
George A. Reisner: Mycerinus, the temples of the third pyramid at Giza: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015004858539&seq=81
George A. Reisner: History of the Giza Necropolis, Volume 1: https://archive.org/details/historyofgizanec0000geor/mode/2up
The Topographical Bibliography of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic Texts..., Vol. III/1. Memphis - Abû Rawâsh to Abûṣîr: http://www.griffith.ox.ac.uk/topbib/pdf/pm3-1.pdf
Colin Reader: Further considerations on development at Giza before the 4th Dynasty: https://www.giftofgeology.co.uk/files/2006-06-PalARch-CDR-2.pdf
Colin Reader: Response to Vandecruys (2006). The Sphinx: dramatising data….and dating: https://web.archive.org/web/20111128051644/https://www.palarch.nl/wp-content/reader_cd_response_to_vandecruys_2006_the_sphinx_dramatising_data_and_dating_palarchs_journal_of_archaeology_of_egypt_egyptology_2_1_2006.pdf
Colin Reader, The Age of the Sphinx and the Development of the Giza Necropolis: https://gizamedia.rc.fas.harvard.edu/documents/reader_cre_2_2005.pdf
I. Kanaya, Digital Modeling of Monument of Queen Khentkawes: https://www.isprs.org/proceedings/XXXVI/5-W47/pdf/kanaya.pdf
Y. Kawae, Mapping Khentkawes: https://www.academia.edu/867529/Mapping_Khentkawes
S. Hasan, Excavations At Giza, Vol. III, 1931-1932: https://gizamedia.rc.fas.harvard.edu/images/MFA-images/Giza/GizaImage/full/library/hassan_giza_3.pdf

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