Evening star., 1926-01-24
NEW THEORIES NOW
HELD OF PYRAMIDS.
Discovery of Senefru's Tomb
i. May Shatter Burial
sf Place Idea.
BY JOHN l.. BALDERSTON,

BY JOHN l.. BALDERSTON,
Special Correspondent of The Star and North
American Newspaper Alliance
LONDON, January 23-The discov-
cry OF old King Senefru in the most
carefully concealed tomb ever found
in Egypt will upset all ideas hitherto
held as established regarding the use
and purposes of the great Pyramids,
and will start excavators working
feverishly on the Pyramid Plateau in
search of the Pharoahs who built
these great monuments.
IL my previous dispatches, I have
given some details Of Prof. ReiSner s
discovery as il will be shortly reVea led
10 the world IN official communicates
from the Egyptian government. l
have also given the reasons for believ.
ing that this unp!undered tomb is that
of Senetru, who lived 5000 or 5000
years ago. The effect Of this discov
cry on modern archaeology will he to
reopen d wide field of speculation re
guarding the Pyramids.
For dozens uf centuries men have
wondered and made theories about the
Pyramids And the biggest one, that
of Cheops, has driven more than one
scholar crazy by its mysteries.
Many Theories Held.
II has been Identified as an as
Economical observatory, from whose
galleries the ancient priests observed
The stars. During the last century.
IN + 'glishman. after working through
and around it for years, published two
rat volumes to prove that 1t could not
he the work of mortal hands, but was
sort OF Bible in stone erected by
divine agency so that future genera
tions should solve its riddles and OBJ.
tain standards of weights and meas
ures. as well as much historical and
theological information.
OF late years, the great Pyramid,
and the others, have been held BY
most scholars TO present no mystery
at all excepting that people should
have been such fools as 70 apply the
whole resources OF great nation TO
crafty the vanity OF their kings. The
pyramids, in the orthodox view, are
'ombS. rpla.ng more. Within their
concealed ..-sSages. In granite sar-
cophagi, some OF which still exist,
we're laid the mortal remains of the
Pharoahs, and all were piundered OF
their treasures and the mummieS de-
stroyed in remote ages.
But Senefru built two pyramids
One at Dahshur, is almost as big as
the great Pyramid of CheopS The
other. at Medium. had at its base
The funeral temple OF the king and
around It are the ruins of the toInbs
of the princes OF his royal house and
his CHEZ courtiers. What becomes
then Of the orthodox view OF the
purpose of these earliest and greatest
pyramids, ii the tomb Of Senefru is
found 10 have been made deep down
IN the rock At eliza when there was
no pyramid there at all. concealed
with most careful art, with nothing
whatever showing above the ground
70 betray the fact OF the burial?
Fake" Pyramids Erected
Dr. II. Il. II. Hall, keeper of
Egyptian and AsSyrian antiquities al
ths British Museum, who is prob
ably not yet aware of much OF the
evidence presented in NV earlier
articles about he new tomb. nor Of
the present views of DR.. George A.
Reisner since the head Of the Har-
ward Boston expedition rea ached the
pyramids after the find, made this
comment: DIR. Reisner Is of opinion
hat Senefru was buried under the
false pyramid at Dahshur- II is
certain that some of the early kings
erected fake pyramids in order TO
put tombrobbers off the scent. One
of these pyramids, therefore. was d
secondary tomb. and If the discovery
turns out TO be the real tomb il will
mean that Senefru had two fake
tombs or pyraml OF course. only
exca ton will decide that.
Another authority, better known If
more remote than DIR Hall, has some
comments to offer on the great Jyra-
mid. which although written 2,370
years ago. suddenly come to life as
Of possibly great value and import
snce in view of the Harvard BoS-
the great Greek historian. relates
many fabulous wonders which, until
our own times, were thought ire
mendous lies. hut modern scieu-
tif1c excavation during the past so
years has confirmed one after
another OF the statements Of Herod-
otus a. which earlier scholars
Knocked.
Herodo - visited Egypt about b c.
440 and, like all travellers before and
since. was especially interested in the
Pyramids, which then stood rela atively
undamaged. His account of them was
based on what he saw. and on what
the priests told him. As the funeral
temples of Senefru, Cheops, Chephren
and the rest were still existing, with
their attendant priests and regular
some more or less accurate tradition
might have been handed down to that
time. But the narrative of Herodotus
has always been secuted by modern
historians because it is at varian nee
with what have been a assumed to be
facts since proved. Those facts may
turn out to have been traps set thou
sands of years ago by Cheops and the
other kings to fool those who were to
come after.
Herodotus' Description
Herodotus tells how 100 900 men
worked for three months annually
for 10 years to build that great cause
way up which the 100000 dressed
blocks of stone We're dragged to build
the great Pyramid. 1t is assumed
that the bulk Of this work, and the
labor which Herodotus says lasted 20
years on the great Pyramid itself, wa
performed during the Nile inunda-
tons, when the natives could not work
on the land. He describes how the
Pyramid was built. stage By stage
and then declares that Chephren's g
Pyramid has no subterraneous apart
ments, nor any canal from the Nile
to supply it with water. IS the other
Pyramid (CheopS0 has In that, the
Nile water, introduced through an
artificial duct, surrounds an island
where the body of Cheops is said to
lie
We moderns have known for CEN
turies that poor old Herodotus was
wholly mistaken about this. For In
Arab times. and later. the great Py-
ranlid has been forced open and the
tomb chambers found TO lie, not in the
rock beneath, but inside the masonry
itself hundreds of feet above the Nile
TO visit these is one of the duties Of
every self-respecting tourist in Egypt
fhrnlsh fati6