Science and Health

Egypt discovers new workers' tombs near pyramids

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-01-10 20:29
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CAIRO: Egypt's antiquities authority has announced the discovery of a new set of tombs for the workers who built the great pyramids.

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Zahi Hawass, the director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, says the tombs are significant because they show that the pyramids were not built by slaves, but rather free workers.

Worker tombs were first discovered in the area in the 1990s and shed new light on the daily lives of those who built some of antiquities most famous monuments.

Evidence from the site, according to Sunday's statement, revealed that farmers in Egypt sent 21 buffalo and 23 sheep every day to feed the workers.

Hawass estimated that 10,000 people toiled on the pyramids.
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