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The Shaft, The Subway
& The Causeway
Part 7
In 1999, Doctor Hawass gave a number of lectures which included a
section on the shaft under the causeway or "Tomb Of Osiris" as it
has become known. The subject was also discussed in radio broadcasts
by Boris Said and J. J. Hurtack amongst others. As time permits,
information on these lectures, broadcasts and other reports will be
added to this page.
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Doctor Hawass - University of Pennsylvania
11th April 1999
The following report was written in 1999. Unfortunately its
publication was endlessly delayed, firstly due to problems in
verifying some of the points and secondly because this site has gone
through a period of inactivity due to health problems. As a result,
the report seems to duplicate some of the information to be found on
the good Doctor's own site, but hopefully it contains enough
additional information to make its belated publication worthwhile.
The presentation described below was given shortly after the "FOX
Opening The Lost Tombs" television broadcast. At the time, Doctor
Hawass was being attacked on various internet websites and in
discussion forums for allocating such a short segment of the
programme to the "Tomb Of Osiris". The general assumption seemed to
be that it was Hawass who was calling the shots on the programme and
that maybe he was trying to hide something. In his talk, he made it
clear that he thought FOX made a big mistake in not allocating more
time to it. This episode clearly illustrates the dangers of
attacking someone trying to do a very difficult job without knowing
all the facts first.
The Report...
On April 11th 1999, Doctor Hawass gave a presentation at the
University of Pennsylvania, part of which dealt with the 'Tomb of
Osiris'. He started by describing the location of the shaft as being
about ninety feet underneath the ground between the second pyramid
and the Sphinx. He explained how the shaft had been known about by
many egyptologists for a long time.He said that in recent times it
has become a source of rumour and talk amongst the New Age
fraternity who claim that it conceals evidence of a lost
civilisation, and that they have been talking about it everywhere.
Doctor Hawass went on to explain the method used to explore a ninety
foot deep shaft. He said, "First, the workman will tie you in the
middle and then throw you down. Thank God my workmen like me!" Not
surprisingly, this caused much hilarity.
He explained that the main problem with excavating the shaft was
that it penetrated to the level of the water table and that it is
difficult to take water from a shaft. The water would have to be
drained and metal work stairs installed before any excavations could
start. He said that this work was the most difficult he had ever
undertaken and that he thought FOX TV made a big mistake in only
allocating five minutes to it because of its significance. He added
that for the audience to understand it fully, proper explanatory
plans and diagrams.would have to be made for the people to see.
Doctor Hawass went on to describe the excavation of the second level
chamber located sixty feet underneath the causeway. The chamber
extends for fifty feet in length and was littered with stone rubble,
pottery and pieces of bone. From the pottery, Doctor Hawass has
dated the second level to 500 B.C., a time known as the Saite
period. On excavating the chamber, Doctor Hawass said that he found
six rooms cut into the rock, two of which contained red granite
sarcophagi which were empty.
Doctor Hawass next went on to illustrate how the third level is
reached via another shaft that descends to a depth of ninety feet
and explained that it was this area that was full of water. Osman
Contractors of Cairo were engaged to pump the water out in an
operation which took one month to complete. Doctor Hawass said that
he almost lost his ears and his eyes in the process because of the
noise and the dirt and that it was for this reason that it was the
most difficult work that he had ever undertaken.
Having drained the water, Doctor Hawass found a wall in the form of
a rectangle in the centre of the chamber. At each corner of the
rectangle there were the remains of a pillar, and in the centre
there was a large sarcophagus surrounded by water. Doctor Hawass
decided that this was the location that Herodotus, the father of
history, had been referring to when he talked about Khufu's burial
and of seeing water near the Great Pyramid. He explained that
Herodotus had not actually seen such things himself, rather that he
had been told about them by the guide that he met on the Giza
plateau.
Doctor Hawass next explained how he found the hieroglyphic word for
'House' engraved in the ground. At the time of the New Kingdom, 1550
BC, the Giza plateau was known as "The Place of Osiris, Lord of the
Underground Tunnels". Osiris was said to be the Lord who was
controlling the tunnels at the Giza plateau and to be buried
underneath the pyramids. When the excavations first started, Dr.
Hawass thought that he had found a tunnel going towards the Sphinx
because he could see water flowing into it, but he was deceived
because on investigation it was found to form part of the engraved
hieroglyphic word "pwr", meaning "House".
At the beginning of the excavations, Doctor Hawass was keen to
obtain some artifacts from the chamber, but he could not do this
himself because of the water. To more mirth, Doctor Hawass described
how a rope was tied around a workman who was then thrown into the
water! He swam around and returned with pieces of wood, pottery and
bone. These artifacts provided enough evidence to allow Doctor
Hawass to date the location to 1550 B.C., the time of the New
Kingdom. Hawass stated that the water is now only 1 ft. deep and the
artifacts can actually be seen.
Doctor Hawass said that the work had been started nine months
previously (giving a date of July 1998 as this presentation was
given in April 1999) and that although it had been most exciting, he
did not talk about it at all until it was shown on the FOX TV
Special in March 1999. Notwithstanding his silence on the matter,
rumours of a new discovery circulated on the Internet and people
came from all over the world, asking to see the new tunnel that had
been discovered.
In commenting further on the sarcophagus, Doctor Hawass said that
nothing was found inside it. This did not surprise him because he
said he would not expect to find anything inside a symbolic tomb of
the God Osiris.
Doctor Hawass next went on to talk about the shaft in the north west
corner of the chamber. He explained how a boy was roped up and sent
into the shaft to see where it led. It could only be explored to a
distance of around nine feet because beyond that point it became too
narrow to continue. He added that the shaft headed exactly towards
the Great Pyramid.
Doctor Hawass said that the chamber is similar in construction to
the Osirion in Abydos. Many people date the Osirion to dynasty four
- the Old Kingdom - but Doctor Hawass thinks that it should be dated
to the New Kingdom. He stressed that the chamber itself needs more
excavation because he believes it to be very important and that he
will then be able to discover a lot more about this Tomb of Osiris.
In closing his description of the excavation of the "Tomb of Osiris",
Doctor Hawass returned to the subject of the tunnels. With reference
to the tunnel in the north west corner, he asked, "Does this tunnel
go from here to the Great Pyramid or is there a tunnel from the
Osiris Tomb to the Sphinx?" He answered himself by saying that he
did not really think it was true and that he thought that the tunnel
had been made in the late period by followers of the Lord Osiris,
Lord of the Underground Tunnels. When nothing was found, they left
the tunnel unfinished. Doctor Hawass said that he hoped to settle
the matter in two months time by using a small camera to investigate
the shaft. This would presumably equate to June 1999 because the
presentation was given in April 1999.
End of report postscript...
In an interview published in the spanish language archaeological
magazine "Revista de Arqueologia", Dr Hawass is reported as saying
that in December 1999 he completed the excavation of the "Tomb of
Osiris" and found that the northwest corner tunnel ended after a
distance of four metres.
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