Evening star., 1954-06-05
KinuIy Ghosts Lurk in Shadows
Of fEgypt's Underground Tomb

, The discovery-believed to be
the oldest intact tomb ever found
of O Pharaoh-waS made last
Monday by Zakaria Goneim and
announced Thursday night.
Yesterday. 41-year-old Mr..
Goneim, Egyptian antiquities de-
partment archeologist since 1889.
I escorted this correspondent down
the steeply sloping corridor
carved out of rock for $50 feet to
the newly discovered funeral
chamber under the pyramid.
The mystery of why the pyra-
mid OF this third dynasty Phar-
aoh was never looted-almost all
others have been during the ages
has this explanation: Nobody
in recent times has been aware
of the existence of the pyramid.
whose ruins are buried under
debris few hundred yards from
the pyramid of Zoser. famous
Pharaoh of the third dynasty
who ruled about 278O to 2750
years before Christ.
Mr.. Goneim started digging
into a natural-looking mound
and found traces of an uncom-
pleted step pyramid, surrounded
by a carefully designed enclosure
wall which rose only about 20
feet above the original ground
level. Now it is covered by Is
to 20 feet of sand and debris.
Mr.. Goneim takes you down
the 20-foot-deep entrance way
dug outside the pyramid and
leading downward to the funeral
chamber more than 100 feet
under the center of the stone
structure.
Vertical Shaft.
Halfway down the 4-foot-wide
corridor you find a vertical shaft
rising to the surface.
1t was here Mr.. Goneim found
! the way blocked by tumbled
mass of boulders and limestone
blocks last March.
ANY hopes I had of finding
an intact tomb were dashed by
the discovery of the vertical
shaft and the blockage of rocks, y
ne said. Il thought sure they
had been caused by grace robbers
who had burrowed into the tomb
centuries ago to steal the gold
and jewels which always were
buried with a Pharaoh.
But when I started to die
out the shaft I found an un-
usual thing. It seems the shaft
was built at the time of the
pyramids construction, possibly
to remove debris as the original
Workmen burrowed in tunnels
In the rock.
Above the rock fall blocking
the corridor we found layers
and layers Of bones, and horns
OF oxen, rams and gazelles."
Mr.. Goneim thinks these were
dumped into the cavity CEN
turieS later as sacriflcial offer
ingS.
Partly Blocked by Rocks.
The entrance to the funeral
chamber itself still is partly
blocked with rocks. It resembles
the entrance to some subter-
ranean cavern of prehistoric
times rather than the doorway
to the carefully carved funeral
chamber of once powerful
Egyptian ruler
That is because third dynasty
priests, after carefully placing
the mummy in an alabaster sar-
cophagus with the mystic rites
Of sun worship, probably hastily
sealed up the doorway with a
pile Of rocks.
There is every evidence it was
a hasty burial" he said.
The archeologist carefully
avoided making a sweeping pre-
diction. But he added happily: !:
There are 10 years Of work
ahead"
Work continues on opening the
doorway to the funeral chamber
but Mr.. Goneim does not know
when the sarcophagus will be
opened.
He is Not Impatient.
Asked II he was not itching
with curiosity about what Is in
side, the archeologist grinned and
said "it's been sitting here for
nearly 5000 years and I guess q
couple of weeks more viii not
make any difference"
Then he added, more seriously,
there will have to be q cere-
mony. Don't forget he was a
king, a Pharaoh, and should be
uncovered in a proper manner.
Mr.. Goneim thinks the sarco-
phagus contains one of ZoSer's
immediate successors who reigned
only a short time-as indicated
by the unfinished pyramid.
He says cautiously 1t might be
Sanakht, Zoser's immediate sue
cessor. who ruled only six to
eight years, according to frag-
mentary historical records.