Oldest Royal administrative building unearthed near Sphinx
Egypt, History, 7/29/2002

Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced Saturday that an American archaeological mission led by professor Mark Liner working in the area south of the Sphinx discovered the oldest administrative building used to supervise the building of Chephren and Mycerinus pyramids.

The mission found inside the building artifacts used by the workers in building the pyramids and a statement with the number of tools given to them.

Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Secretary General Zahi Hawas said the US mission found the remains of a huge royal building 500 meters to the south of the Sphinx and to the east of the pyramid were builders' tombs which were earlier unearthed by an Egyptian mission.

The building is the oldest administrative royal building discovered to date, asserted Hawas, saying it dates back to 4500 years.

The chief American archaeologist said a major part of the building has already been unearthed which is a 48-square meter rock wall running from the east to the west.

The rest of the building lies beneath Sphinx Sporting Club that was built in 1948 over the archaeological area, he said.

The building includes a silo to store quotas given to bakeries. The mission also found the oldest bakery that was used to make sun-backed bread. The same kind of bread is still eaten in some villages in Upper Egypt till now.

Hawas underlined that one of the most important things about the new find is the discovery of 250 clay stamps inscribed with the names of king Chephren and king Mycerinus. This brings to 500 the number of stamps found by the American mission since the beginning of its work.

The mission also discovered an industrial area where copper tools and cotton clothes used by the builders of the pyramids were manufactured as well as a technical school for designing clay stamps.

The mission also found a residential area where a number of houses were apparently used to accommodate up to 2000 workers' supervisors.

According to Hawas, 2000 workers joined hands in building the pyramids.

They were sent by their families from all over the country to participate in the building of the pyramids that they considered a national duty.

Previous Stories:
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