Mummies, Jewels, and…untold horrors? The pyramids of Egypt are home to some
stunning archaeological finds, as well as some surprises right out of a Hollywood chiller.
These are the worst things ever found inside Egyptian pyramids.
#10. The Great Menagerie
Egyptian pharaohs liked to take everything with them when they died, so all their
possessions were placed in the tomb with them - even if said possession was still alive!
If Pharaohs or anyone else interred in a pyramid had a pet at the time,
the pet would typically be mummified and sent to spent eternity with their master - which
likely resulted in some nasty glares from the cat in the afterlife. Cats were considered
sacred animals in Egypt, so the most common animal mummies found there are also the most
likely to unravel the mummy’s bandages for fun in the event of a surprise resurrection.
But that’s just the beginning - because in many pyramids, it was a full-on zoo
Many animal mummies weren’t actually pets at all - they were tributes to the Gods. The Egyptian
Gods were typically based on animals, so when the Egyptians wanted to get the blessings of a God,
they would make a tribute in their image. Many of the mummies were actually just ritual
effigies - statues or dolls containing a few bones of the animal, rather than a full mummified body.
But when it came to a pharaoh being laid to rest and wanting good luck in the afterlife,
he would often cover his bases and have the local wildlife laid to rest with him.
Which has led to some truly strange finds inside the pyramids.
Birds are fairly common finds, particularly the sacred Ibis,
which was popular during the later days of Egypt.
Dogs and Jackals, which represented Anubis the God of the afterlife,
were commonly placed in the coffins starting with the first dynasty. After all,
you’d want the God who was taking you to your reward to feel represented. But other,
larger animals were present as well - including baboons and crocodiles, who both had Gods in
their image. Whoever had the job of capturing and stuffing those two probably drew the short straw.
And even bugs, like the sacred Scarab, showed up in these massive tombs.
And with that many residents, you need some fuel.
#9. Fit for a King
One of the important things to know about the burial chambers inside these massive pyramids
is that they didn’t really expect the dead to stay put. They weren’t expecting them to
get up and wander around casually like in the old horror movies - that would be pretty hard
with all the work done to preserve the bodies, including getting rid of all the organs. But their
perspective of the afterlife was fairly literal, and the Egyptians viewed sending their dead to the
next realm as something akin to a mom sending a kid off to camp. Okay, you have everything
you need? You’ve got your best clothes, you have your favorite items, and you’ve got your pet cat.
And of course, you’ll need something to eat along the way!
The tombs of Pharaohs were commonly filled with foodstuffs - the kind you would pack
if you wanted to make sure your beloved king wouldn’t be feeling hungry as he goes on that
final journey. This being ancient times, most of the supplies were simple natural
foods including grains like wheat and barley, fruits like figs, dates, and grapes, packages
of preserved meat - only the best, like beef and duck - and even honey for dessert and wine
in case the mummy wants to get a little tipsy on their way out the door. It was a sumptuous feast,
the kind any commoner in the era would like to get their hands on - and it all went to waste,
because obviously there wasn’t anyone in the sealed room to eat it, right?
And now it’s all long rotted - right?
Well, not exactly. While none of the food in the tombs should be consumed thousands of years later,
most of the foods left in the room were built to last. Dry grain will just get brittle,
jerky is designed to have a long shelf life - although not this long - and perishable
items like fish were carefully avoided. And then there’s the wine, which benefits from
aging - although anyone who cracked it open today would likely be in for an unpleasant surprise.
The one exception? The honey, which has no expiration date and can last for thousands
of years if kept sealed without any microbes getting in. So it’s entirely possible that
the Pharaoh’s honey could still be spread on some apples today - although no one knows if
any archaeologists were willing to put their stomachs on the line for science.
Sometimes, it seems like the Pharaohs were preparing for any eventuality.
#8. The Ship of Khufu
Egypt is in a desert, right? They’re probably not going to be spending too much time on the
water. Well, hold that thought - because at its height, Egypt was definitely engaging in trade
and war well beyond its borders, and it sailed the nearby seas just like any empire. Still, most
of the evidence of Egypt’s seafaring days was long gone - which was why the discovery in 1954 took
everyone by surprise. While exploring the Great Pyramid, the burial place of the Pharaoh Khufu,
they found a large chamber carved into the base of the Giza bedrock - and they discovered
some of the most fascinating ruins inside the pyramid.
But there would be a lot of work to do before they got the whole picture.
It was a massive ship, almost a hundred and fifty feet long and close to twenty feet wide.
Dated back around 4,500 years, this makes it the oldest boat ever found - but it was far
from intact. Wooden ships aren’t meant to last thousands of years, so it had degraded and took
years for the Egyptian Department of Antiquities to restore it and create a full-sized recreation.
What they discovered was magnificent - but also deeply mysterious. Because the boat was
definitely constructed well, to the point where the engineers said it could easily
float on water today if they wanted to risk it. But what it was missing was anything to
operate it - as it had no rigging, no masts, and no deck for rowers to get the boat moving.
So what exactly was it supposed to be carrying?
The boat has earned the nickname of the Solar Barge, because it’s believed to be largely
ceremonial. It was likely placed in the Pharaoh’s tomb not as a prize possession that he would want
buried with him, but as an actual vehicle he would use to get to the afterlife. Guess Anubis didn’t
have the rowboat that Hades’ servants did to get souls across the River Styx - or maybe the
Pharaoh just wanted to travel in style. Either way, the boat does not seem to have been used
for its intended purpose, although it showed some evidence of being used on the water - so
it may have been used before its burial for a funeral procession or other ceremonies.
But some of the stuff in these pyramids was a bit more…gruesome.
#7. Guts
The process of mummification wasn’t pretty - and it certainly wasn’t as simple as wrapping the body
in bandages. The goal was to preserve the body for as long as possible, and to do that they had
to remove anything that was likely to rot. That involved removing most of the organs, starting
with the brain, followed by most of the guts and soft tissue. This would allow the body to then be
rinsed and deodorized with a spice mixture, before being allowed to dehydrate and eventually be ready
for long-term preservation. And what to do with the guts? Throw them out, right? Hold on - don’t
forget that this is the Pharaoh, who was typically considered the human avatar of the Gods.
And that means that every part of him is holy - even the guts.
The guts would be joining the mummy in the burial chamber - but in a way that wouldn’t
ruin the vibe. They would typically be placed in jars called Canopic Jars,
which were ornately decorated and usually given the face of one of the Gods.
Being firmly sealed - and with no one around to disturb them - the jars would be stable and be
allowed to rot away inside without leaking and causing any damage to the rest of the chamber,
while the body itself would slowly desiccate into
a shriveled mummy that would be carefully preserved even thousands of years later.
But what starts buried doesn’t always stay buried.
The Canopic Jars were eventually discovered and examined - which likely meant a bad day at the
office for the archaeologists. But discovery means taking some risks, and examining the Canopic Jars
revealed some fascinating facts to the scientists. For one thing, the jars weren’t just a slurry of
organs - they had been segregated by organ, with each major organ having a jar and maybe
a specific God. This interested the scientists because it raised a question - exactly how much
did the ancient Egyptians know about what those squishy things inside our body do?
But sometimes, there’s nothing eerier than…nothing.
#6. The Void
There were many pyramids around Egypt, not just the largest ones - in fact,
a total of 118 have been identified so far. Most of them have similar characteristics - including
a burial chamber for the guest of honor. Scientists have long believed that all the
pyramids were designed as tombs - which made it all the more puzzling that seven pyramids were
found without any design for a burial chamber inside. All of them were smaller pyramids,
without the ornate inner structure, which has led archaeologists to believe that they may have
been designed as fortresses or settlements instead - or maybe were just unfinished.
And of course, there’s no one to ask.
One of the eeriest parts of exploring a pyramid is the ambiguity. How do you
explore something that was created thousands of years ago, with the entire culture long gone?
Many elements of the construction will always be a mystery - but none more so than the mysterious
void found within the Khufu pyramid, one of the biggest and most famous pyramids ever
built. In 2017, while mapping the pyramid with a powerful telescope system, and inside they
found…nothing. A massive, 100-foot void that seemed to be a large chamber with an unknown
purpose. Another, smaller void was found as well, which indicates that there are huge
portions of the pyramid that have not been seen by anyone in several thousand years.
And scientists are still puzzling over it.
The Great Pyramid has not been fully explored, and the actual burial chamber of the Pharaoh
Khufu has never been discovered. That led many people to think this massive hidden
room could be the key - but it seems to be so thoroughly sealed off, with no way in or out,
that it’s likely to keep its secrets. Others believe it might have been a construction
staging point, or maybe just a construction error, and the grand unveiling would be akin
to Geraldo opening Al Capone’s vault - full of nothing. But one way or another, we’re
not likely to get answers - to gain access might require dismantling much of the massive pyramid.
But sometimes, human nature is scarier than any physical object.
#5. The Two Pyramids of Ameny Qemau
Ameny Quemau was by all accounts a fairly forgettable pharaoh,
only ruling for two years during the Second Dynasty. He only appears in a few pieces of
literature - his name inscribed on a few canopic jars - and is believed only to have reigned for
two years. That makes him essentially a footnote in Egyptian history - which
makes it all the more surprising that he has two pyramids with his name on them.
One could be explained, especially a smaller one for burial, but there’s no reason why such
a forgettable ruler would have more pyramids to his name than some of the most famous ones.
Except, of course, that he wanted them.
The archaeologists discovered the two pyramids in the city of Dahshur,
two thousand feet away from each other, beginning in 1957. They explored them and found most of the
artifacts belonging to his short reign in the first pyramid. This is the source of most of
what we know about the king’s reign - but what about the second pyramid? After exploring it,
they found a lot of evidence of things that didn’t relate to Ameny Quemau - as
well as a box containing mummy wrappings and inscriptions that didn’t seem to belong there.
What was the secret? A father’s love.
After much investigation, they discovered that the remains found in the second pyramid of Ameny
Qemau belonged to his daughter Hetshepset - who never became a ruler and was mostly
forgotten by history, unlike the similarly-named queen. But she must have died before her father,
and wasn’t forgotten by him - because he apparently went to an already built pyramid,
took out most of the artifacts belonging to the person who was buried there,
and inscribed his name on it so his daughter could be buried there!
Now that’s some peak pushy soccer-dad behavior, ancient Egypt style.
It wasn’t the only time someone left a mark on someone else’s pyramid.
#4. Ancient Tags
Grafitti is a fine art in some cities. Young men come out, masked up and carrying spray paint,
and go to town turning the city into a canvas. They spray on buildings,
walls, and even moving subway cars, always trying to stay one step ahead of the cops.
Sometimes they’re painting fancy murals, but more often they leave their personal tag - or
the tag of the gang they belong to. If they can stay out of jail, they might even become
local heroes - but more often than not their creations get painted over in short order.
But for one set of graffiti artists, their creations lasted a LOT longer.
The Pyramids didn’t build themselves - it took a lot of labor. While many stories have them build
by slaves, most evidence is that the pyramids - including the Great Pyramid of Giza - were
built by paid laborers who understood the job and weren’t just plunked down and told to work.
They took great pride in their work - and that meant that they wanted to leave their mark.
Thousands of years later, archaeologists unearthed a series of strange red markings right above the
King’s Chamber - and when they translated it, it read “The Friends of Khufu Gang”.
Imagine leaving a silly little tag on your next work project,
and having people reading it over almost five thousand years later.
But most of the strangest finds in pyramids are
much less wholesome - and one was right out of the movies.
#3. Deathtraps Ahoy
If you watch any movie about the pyramids, the odds are at some
point our intrepid hero is going to get into some trouble. He steps on the wrong stone,
and suddenly the floor collapses under him. Maybe he’s hurtling down a slide to a spike pit,
or maybe poison darts shoot out of the wall. Maybe a trap door opens up under him to drop him into a
basement full of snakes! Why did it have to be snakes? Don’t ask who’s been keeping the snake
pit stocked for all those years. Fortunately, these elaborate traps are just fiction…right?
Not if you go to some pyramids - including one of the most famous ones.
King Tutankhamun, also known as the Boy King, was one of the youngest pharaohs,
and the discovery of his tomb in 1922 was one of the biggest events in archaeological history.
It also led to no small about of fear - as many people who explored it came
down with ailments or a case of bad luck. But as they explored his tomb,
they discovered it wasn’t going to be straightforward. Many past tombs
had fake walls and floors designed to trick people and lead them down the wrong path away
from the Pharaoh’s treasure - but few seemed as closely guarded as this one.
Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered under another tomb, and that wasn’t where
the strangeness stopped. The tomb resembled an elaborate puzzle box,
with many of the rooms having grooves where blocks needed to be slid around in to gain
access. One wrong move and you would be cut off from entering his chamber. As they explored,
they only discovered an empty sarcophagus made of red granite - not the kind that a pharaoh
would be buried in. The location of his actual burial chamber remains a mystery - one closely
guarded by a series of security measures that would put any movie mummy to shame!
However, one object in the pyramids made archaeologists’ blood run cold.
#2. The Smallest Sarcophagus
There is no greater joy for many people than the arrival of a new baby,
and an interrupted pregnancy can devastate a family. Many people love the child long before
it arrives, and want to memorialize the life that could have been. But few went as far with this as
whoever was in charge of filling one pyramid in Giza. The year was 1907, and archaeologists were
digging through the ruins. While exploring one chamber, they found a sarcophagus - but it was
the smallest sarcophagus anyone had ever seen, a wooden chamber less than a foot long. It looked
more like the size a sarcophagus would be if it belonged to a small pet, but that wasn’t the case.
The sarcophagus was badly damaged, but it was unmistakable
as the kind that would belong to a human.
At over 2500 years old, the miniature coffin was badly degraded and trying to
open it could cause everything inside to collapse when exposed to the air.
But the presence of this coffin raised many questions, and scientists wanted answers.
They brought high-level imaging technology to the site and used it to peer inside.
What they found was a human skeleton - but one far too small to even be an infant.
After experts looked over the images, they found that it was a fetus that would be no more than
18 weeks old - a miscarriage relatively early in the pregnancy, long before the fetus was viable.
And that shed a lot of light on just how much Ancient Egyptians understood about the body.
At that stage in pregnancy, the woman likely only would have figured out she was pregnant a month
earlier or so. The pregnancy would only be around half over, but it’s clear that everyone involved
understood that this miscarriage had the potential to be a future son or daughter of Egypt - and
would be memorialized as such. It’s not the only tiny sarcophagus found in the Pyramids of Egypt,
and each one seems to be honored just as much as the grown humans held in that pyramid.
However, not everyone buried in a pyramid is there
to be honored - and now we reach the darkest thing ever found in a pyramid.
#1. The Sacrifices
The Pharaohs had many possessions - and they wanted to take all of them with them.
That included their precious gems, their gold, their chariots, and their fancy clothes. But it
could also include their pets, who were sacrificed with them for good luck. And in some rare cases,
it even included their servants. The servants had pledged to serve the pharaoh in life - and
in death. Because Egyptians viewed the afterlife as a continuation of the life they lived, death
was seen more as a transition than an end, and the pharaohs were seen as Gods in human form. So to
follow them into the afterlife was seen as a great honor - whether the servant wanted it or not.
But how common was this, actually?
It wasn’t as common as Hollywood makes you believe - after all, if signing up to serve the Pharaoh
meant you would die when he did, it would lose its popularity as a position sooner or later.
But during the First Dynasty, it seems to have been relatively commonplace. Graves around the
royal tombs were found to contain multiple members of the royal court, particularly members of the
harem. And surprisingly, it wasn’t limited to the pharaoh. High-born members of society often have
their servants slain and laid to rest with them, although not in the same numbers as the kings.
But as the brutality of this practice became a little clearer, an alternative started to emerge.
Archaeologists started finding something else when exploring tombs - countless small statues called
Ushabtis. These little figurines, usually made from limestone, seem to have been created to serve
as the king’s new servants in the afterlife. They had inscriptions on each one, saying that they
would be brought to life by the Gods to replace the living servants when the time was right.
Who came up with this idea? No one knows - but there’s a good chance it was a servant who saw
the opportunity to come up with a good story and potentially save his own life.
Want to learn more about Ancient Egypt? Check out “Real Reason Ancient Egyptians Went Extinct”,
or watch “50 Insane Facts About the Egyptian Pyramids You Didn’t Know”.