What has happened to Abu Roash (Rawash) in the last 100 years?

In this photo taken approximately 100 years ago the French Egyptologist Jean-Philippe Lauer is seen posing on top of a contraption situated in the bottom of the pyramid at Abu Rawash.

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The contraption is no longer there.

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Also look at the ramp from back then -

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Seems to be in good shape. Now look at it -

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It has been wrecked.

What has happened to this place in the last 100 years?

a reply to: JamesTB

I know nothing about the Abu Rawash Pyramid but I can see what looks like deliberate vandalism which fortunately happened after the French Gentleman had photographed his findings.

I do believe the Egyptians had a much more sophisticated technology than we are aware of and also had the use of electricity and were utilising superconductivity - as per Lawrence Gardner's excellent book Lost Ark of the covenant where he covers this topic very well. The pyramid might have been used to make the concoction needed to make the power used by the people then and whoever is responsible for this damage, sure as hell didn't want the public, or renegade researchers finding any evidence to support any of their theories.

I am often thinking that Egypt might have been a different place had it had oil and the Ancients learned how later generations have utilised this fuel. They clearly used something else in the construction of the pyramids and so their world looks totally different to ours with our pollution and engines we use for power etc . One wonders who was the cleverer civilisation?

Great and interesting thread which I will watch with interest as I expect others will have different views from mine.

The difference in 100 years is staggering. You could pass for a little damage as that's what time does, but seeing that as it is is quite sad. Bloody humans.
I'll have to look more into this pyramid as I don't know much about it, or the contrapion. I love things like this. It gives me something to get my teeth into.

originally posted by: rhynouk
The difference in 100 years is staggering. You could pass for a little damage as that's what time does, but seeing that as it is is quite sad. Bloody humans.
I'll have to look more into this pyramid as I don't know much about it, or the contrapion. I love things like this. It gives me something to get my teeth into.

The damage is actually astounding as you can see in this clip -



www.youtube.com...

a reply to: JamesTB
It's so sad seeing the state of it. Whatever we humans touch we destroy don't we. The weather could have played a part as well but a complete lack of respect from tourists is probably the main issue.
In another 100 years it will have probably been completely destroyed.

Excavations, lots of excavations

Vyse and Perring discovered the site in 1830.

Lepsius worked there in 1842 and 1843.

etrie did some exploratory surveys in 1880 and 1882.

Chassinat, carried out excavations and exposed the east side of the pyramid in 1901 and 1902.

Pierre Lacau, Pierre Montet, Charles Kuentz and a large team excavated the area in 1912 and 1913.

Bisson de la Roque worked there from 1922.

In the 1960s new excavations were carried out by Maragioglio and Rinaldi.

Then for the last 12 years a Franco-Swiss team withValloggia of Geneva University, Baud from the Louvre and Tristant.

Archaeology by its method is destructive. I last saw it in 83 and again in 86 and it was not quite in this mess. The Egyptians have not taken the time or effort to restore it as it lacks the tourist draw of the better known Gizah Tombs.

a reply to: JamesTB

And we wonder as to the reason no further excavations around the great sphinx or pyramid are permitted?

Possibly because we seem to destroy anything we encounter intentionally or otherwise!

originally posted by: Hanslune
Excavations, lots of excavations

Vyse and Perring discovered the site in 1830.

Lepsius worked there in 1842 and 1843.

etrie did some exploratory surveys in 1880 and 1882.

Chassinat, carried out excavations and exposed the east side of the pyramid in 1901 and 1902.

Pierre Lacau, Pierre Montet, Charles Kuentz and a large team excavated the area in 1912 and 1913.

Bisson de la Roque worked there from 1922.

In the 1960s new excavations were carried out by Maragioglio and Rinaldi.

Then for the last 12 years a Franco-Swiss team withValloggia of Geneva University, Baud from the Louvre and Tristant.

Archaeology by its method is destructive. I last saw it in 83 and again in 86 and it was not quite in this mess. The Egyptians have not taken the time or effort to restore it as it lacks the tourist draw of the better known Gizah Tombs.

Great information, thank you

The pyramid was already in ruins before the Romans mined it for cut stone.

Local Arabs are thought to have been the earlier culprits.

Harte

The 'Contraption' looks like it had a function to me. It doesn't appear to resemble any structure or artifact found in any tomb or crypt that I've ever seen before. The oval shaped 'tablet' in the background that is resting on some stones looks like it was used as a plug for the oval shaped hole in front of it. That's very unusual indeed. It's a little clearer in this photo -

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It doesn't seem very 'Egyptian' at all to me and reminds me more of some of the megaliths found in Laos, China and Japan, almost like a combination of them all -

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Screen shots from this video -



www.youtube.com...

a reply to: JamesTB

Let me ask some reasonably smart people about that image.

The Youtube was good if you just look at the images, some of the ones from Japan I had not seen before.

A Professor Boggs when asked why people would raise up rocks he answered by asking the students to imagine a place and time where there was no writing or maps and how would you mark a placce for special consideration, wood rots away so stone is better.Stones can mark a place to rally too, a place to avoid, a boundary marker, a place where two wary tribes could meet to trade, a place to find mates, to mark the grave of an important man or woman, a guidepost to necessary resources, water mineral or food, etc

a reply to: JamesTB

What is the original source for that first image, S.28?

originally posted by: Hanslune
a reply to: JamesTB

What is the original source for that first image, S.28?

The book Egyptian Dawn by Robert Temple I believe.

a reply to: JamesTB

Ah that explains it, Temple is not a paragon of research brilliance and I would suspect he mixed the photos by accident..............

From my source Chris Tedder

"The photo was taken from inside the ‘unfinished’ pyramid at Zawiyet el Aryan, not Abu Rawash. An oval pink granite sarcophagus is sunk into the western side of the floor of the burial chamber, with its long axis north-south. Behind it is the well polished granite lid."

If you examine the two photos you will see they are from different locations. Unfortunately I never got to ZeA so I knew that the image was not of Abu Rawash but couldn't place it as I had not seen it.

Since many people might not know where that unfinished pyramid is, here is map

originally posted by: Hanslune
a reply to: JamesTB

Ah that explains it, Temple is not a paragon of research brilliance and I would suspect he mixed the photos by accident..............

From my source Chris Tedder

"The photo was taken from inside the ‘unfinished’ pyramid at Zawiyet el Aryan, not Abu Rawash. An oval pink granite sarcophagus is sunk into the western side of the floor of the burial chamber, with its long axis north-south. Behind it is the well polished granite lid."

If you examine the two photos you will see they are from different locations. Unfortunately I never got to ZeA so I knew that the image was not of Abu Rawash but couldn't place it as I had not seen it.

If the 'Contraption' still exists then why are there not any other photos of it?

originally posted by: JamesTB

originally posted by: Hanslune
a reply to: JamesTB

Ah that explains it, Temple is not a paragon of research brilliance and I would suspect he mixed the photos by accident..............

From my source Chris Tedder

"The photo was taken from inside the ‘unfinished’ pyramid at Zawiyet el Aryan, not Abu Rawash. An oval pink granite sarcophagus is sunk into the western side of the floor of the burial chamber, with its long axis north-south. Behind it is the well polished granite lid."

If you examine the two photos you will see they are from different locations. Unfortunately I never got to ZeA so I knew that the image was not of Abu Rawash but couldn't place it as I had not seen it.

If the 'Contraption' still exists then why are there not any other photos of it?

Since 1964, the area of Zawiyet el'Aryan is in a military zone. No excavations are allowed, the original necropolis is overbuilt with military bungalows and the shaft of the Baka pyramid is allegedly misused as a local dump. Thus, the today status of both burial shafts is uncertain and most possibly disastrous.Text

Rainer Stadelmann: King Huni: His Monuments and His Place in the History of the Old Kingdom. In: Zahi A. Hawass, Janet Richards (Hrsg.): The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt. Essays in Honor of David B. O’Connor, vol. II. Conceil Suprême des Antiquités de l’Égypte, Kairo 2007, p. 425–43

I'm uncertain if the sarcophagus was moved

originally posted by: Hanslune

originally posted by: JamesTB

originally posted by: Hanslune
a reply to: JamesTB

Ah that explains it, Temple is not a paragon of research brilliance and I would suspect he mixed the photos by accident..............

From my source Chris Tedder

"The photo was taken from inside the ‘unfinished’ pyramid at Zawiyet el Aryan, not Abu Rawash. An oval pink granite sarcophagus is sunk into the western side of the floor of the burial chamber, with its long axis north-south. Behind it is the well polished granite lid."

If you examine the two photos you will see they are from different locations. Unfortunately I never got to ZeA so I knew that the image was not of Abu Rawash but couldn't place it as I had not seen it.

If the 'Contraption' still exists then why are there not any other photos of it?

Since 1964, the area of Zawiyet el'Aryan is in a military zone. No excavations are allowed, the original necropolis is overbuilt with military bungalows and the shaft of the Baka pyramid is allegedly misused as a local dump. Thus, the today status of both burial shafts is uncertain and most possibly disastrous.Text

Rainer Stadelmann: King Huni: His Monuments and His Place in the History of the Old Kingdom. In: Zahi A. Hawass, Janet Richards (Hrsg.): The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt. Essays in Honor of David B. O’Connor, vol. II. Conceil Suprême des Antiquités de l’Égypte, Kairo 2007, p. 425–43

I'm uncertain if the sarcophagus was moved

I can clear that up for you just take a look at the size of the 'sarcophagus' there's no way on Earth that it's been moved!

a reply to: JamesTB

I was speaking of the lid, as near I can tell it was left in place.