Giza and the Pyramids

Superb book, well written and well illustrated, and likely to be the definitive book on the Giza plateau for some years to come. Those who are interested in the history of Ancient Egypt will not be dissapointed with this book. Mark Lehner is the foremost expert in the world on the Giza plateau, having worked there since the 1970s, and it was he who discovered the town of the pyramid builders. Zahi Hawass, a man constantly attacked by fantasists with no qualifications in Egyptology, has huge archaeological experience also going back to the 1970s, and due to his previous position as head of the SCA, has had access to the sites of Egypt that all others can only dream of. This is a book by professionals for people who want to know facts about the Giza plateau, and it delivers facts in bucketfulls.I am shocked, but not surprised, by the one star adverse comments. Not one has a verified purchase and not one has given a rational reason to trash this book. All these adverse comments are very similar to comments made about this book on the forum of a very well known fringe author, though not from he himself, though one comment was from another published fringe author. I'm sure those with an interest in the history of Ancient Egypt, and not bizarre fantasies about "Power plants", "Aliens" or "Seed vaults" etc, will see the adverse comments for the spite they are.

This a weighty book. Its coverage of the Giza pyramids and tombs is exhaustive, and there are many help illustrations.Why four stars, and not five? There is so much to welcome in the volume but, in the end, I was left wondering if it was written for the sake of completion rather because of a strong desire to communicate with, or inspire, an audience.

great

Excellent research text, great quality, price and speedy delivery

This volume was some thirty years in the making, being continually expanded and rewritten to keep pace with the wealth of new evidence uncovered on the Giza plateau. The authors are in a unique position to present the definitive guide, each having dedicated more than forty years to excavating and studying the Giza site, separately and collaboratively.Their first task is to dispense with the ‘alternative’ ideas surrounding the pyramids which fail to take into account the mass of evidence left behind by the Fourth Dynasty pyramid builders; notions of a workforce of enslaved Hebrews are also dismissed. The authors then present a comprehensive assessment (and reassessment) of the entire Giza plateau area, from the geological formation of the sedimentary rocks (some 55 million years ago) to the resurgence of the area as a mass cemetery during the Late Period.The order of chapters is somewhat confusing in places; after a logical sequence on the geography, geology and early history of the site and origins of pyramid building, a chapter on “Explorers, scholars and expeditions” (Chapter 6) pops up, followed by one covering pyramid rituals; each of the main monuments is then given its own chapter (in chronological order), before moving to the development of the cemeteries and life in the settlements. A discussion of possible construction techniques is left until Chapters 16 and 17, with final chapters on the abandonment of the plateau and revival in the New Kingdom and Late Period.An Afterword covers the 2013 discovery of the Journal of Merer (detailing his work delivering stone for the building of the Great Pyramid), and the work of the ScanPyramids project (for the latest, see news, page 7).Of the Giza monuments, we learn that some seven million cubic metres of local limestone was cut to create the three great pyramids; Khafra may have suffered from ‘pyramid envy’ – by building on a higher base and using a steeper angle of slope, he made his pyramid 7m higher than that of his father Khufu; Debehen’s inscription claiming that king Menkaura granted him his very large tomb may have been concocted by his family to cover up his purloining of an unused royal tomb; and the Sphinx may have been painted in bright colours as part of its New Kingdom restoration (as shown in an artist’s reconstruction). Colin Reader’s theory dating the Sphinx to the Early Dynastic Period (see AE84) is given a thorough discussion; the authors however disagree, arguing in favour of a Fourth Dynasty construction. The enigmatic monument of the queen Khentkawes I (who may have ruled in her own right at the end of the Fourth Dynasty) is given its own chapter, detailing the discovery of her valley complex, harbour basin and dedicated pyramid town.Shedding light on life at Giza, we find inscriptions and graffiti suggesting that skilled workmen worked year round on site while other labourers (divided into ‘gangs’ of 5 phyles of 40 men) were brought in on a rotating shift system. Thirty years of excavations at the Heit el-Ghurab (‘Wall of the Crow’) site to the south east of the Great Sphinx have revealed a large settlement, administrative centre and Nile port dating to the reigns of Khafra and Menkaura, containing large ‘galleries’ which acted as barracks for conscripted workers (cue photograph of the team having a ‘lie down’ in order to calculate how many workers each could house).You will need a strong coffee table for this one – here in this huge, richly illustrated volume is everything you ever wanted to know about Giza, the pyramids and the people who built them.Reviewed by ancientegyptmagazine dot com

I was very nearly deterred from enjoying this wonderful book by particularly vitriolic 'one star' reviews posted earlier.I made the effort to look for myself and am glad I did as in my opinion the book is as good as anything I have read on the subjectThe writing,book layout and structure, quality of graphics and images make it better than most.It has the advantage of being up to date and I for one respect the knowledge of the writers and their familiarity with the evidence on the ground rather than rubbish them as the other reviewers have.I accept there are many more academic papers available and it is an expensive purchase but for those with an interest seeking to understand a wonderful story then the book is as good as is likely to be available for some years to come and should not be dismissed.

These two crooks that authored this book hold the information monopoly on the Pyramids of Giza in the public realm and are still regarded as "experts" in the field of Archeology and Egyptology yet it has been demonstrated that what they posit are fabrications on fabrications. This "definitive account" ought to be in the Historical Fiction section.

Most of these theories of how the pyramids were made have been debunked. The Egyptians were no where near advanced enough or equipped enough to build the pyramids. Each block was cut with such precision and levelled perfectly that it would have been impossible. They've done hundreds of tests using copper tools and the required amount of copper tools alone needed to cut just 1 block would be staggering. There are simply not enough remains of ancient tools, there would be hundreds and thousands of tools remaining from the construction. Everything we've been taught so far about egypt is either a lie to generate tourism or simply closed minded old men who can't see the bigger picture. The water erosion around the base of the sphinx alone proves it to be atleast 5000 years old as there has been no significant rainfall in Egypt since that time.