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Restoring the Step Pyramid

By Gregon

Here’s a new video on the restoration of the Step Pyramid of Djoser (and uncovering of his massive granite sarcophagus), featuring – of course – Dr Zahi Hawass. Djoser’s pyramid is one of the earliest examples of monumental work on a truly massive scale, predating the Giza pyramids by a couple of centuries.

Whatever you think of Dr Hawass, he’s not boring to watch (give him a cape and a big pipe organ and it would be perfect) – just a shame there’s not more coverage of the actual granite sarcophagus rather than the Big Z’s mug. Still, great to see these sorts of short videos coming out of Egypt. Archaeology projects could take a leaf out of Zahi’s book here – I’m sure there would be a pretty sizeable audience out there interested in seeing updates from digs around the world.

Greg
Editor
Greg is the owner-editor of The Daily Grail, as well as the author of a number of books including Stop Worrying, There Probably is an Afterlife.
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13 Comments

  1. Zahi
    Greg, I think you’re spot on with your thoughts on Zahi. I also think he’s not boring to watch. I just wish he’d allow more investigative work to happen with the pyramids and the area in general. He wants everything to flow through him and his teams for obvious reasons and it seems like discoveries happen much slower than they need to as a result.

  2. Agreed he is not boring, but
    Agreed he is not boring, but embarrassing. Every time a documentary starts and this “man” appears the channel is changed immediately in our house. Nothing he says is the truth; he can only push the agenda that Egyptians built everything in the timeline of his selection. What a shame for world history that this fool is still in place and blocking researchers from discovering truths and facts.

    The sad truth is that there will be a whole generation of historians and researchers that will miss out on discovering history in this part of the world because of this fool.

    The world will have to wait until this egomaniac disappears and takes his lapdog Lehner with him.

    1. We have to give him more credit
      Sure Zahi has a big ego; that’s why he’s got the job he’s got.

      But we have to take into context why he was appointed to serve as Egyptian Archeology’s rottweiller.

      Prior to the XXth century all sorts of archeologists came to Egypt. Some of them were there to do serious research; most of them were there to raid tombs and attain fame & fortune.

      When you feel that you’re being robbed of your national heritage, you feel compelled to do something about it to stop it. thus enters Zahi: he has become the human buffer to control all the flow of archeological work conducted in Egypt; he’s also trying to recclaim artifacts taken during the XVIIIth, XIXth and early XXth centuries. As a citizen of another developing country with a great historical heritage, I can’t help to sympathize with that.

      I too am annoyed by his complete diregard of alternative theories. But Egypt has endured thousands of years to reveal its mysteries. Surely it can wait a couple of decades more 🙂

      —–
      It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
      It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

      Red Pill Junkie

      1. He Deserves No Credit
        There have been many decades between the likes of Carter and the installation of this fool into power. I have followed this egomaniac for years and have read enough about him to know where his loyalties are; he only has to look in a mirror.

        It is all about him and the constant pandering to his ego. He wants all to believe that his ancestors built everything in Egypt. Who exactly are his ancestors? Arabs or is he from a secret ancient line of Egyptian pharohs? Maybe that is why he spends so much time in front of the mirror (private dress up time).

        He denies absolute fact when it does not fit into his agenda and then slanders the individual for daring to have a different idea and not releasing it through his office under his authority. He slanders all that do not agree. Bauval, Hancock and the like of JAW are all Zionists!! Remember a British Professor from several years ago with a certain mummy and her theories on this. He went out of his way to slander her and discredit her findings because she used another pay TV network for the documentary. This fool continued to demand her dismissal from the University, threatening to prevent this institution from further onsite research if they did not take the action he was demanding.

        He is vindictive and calculating. Remember Mr Gantenbrink and the accusations and slander served out by the “Great One” once again so that the inventor and discover of the Pyramid doors would not be allowed to return. Gantenbrink even offered his robot for nothing so that the research could be continued. But Hawass would not allow this because of his new promotion to his current position. Then we were all presented with a pathetic documentary on the “LIVE” drilling of the door. Everyone knew it was a lie and a fabricated show. There was no way that he could permit a live opening, because it may reveal something that was not in his agenda.

        And on the point of reclaiming stolen artifacts. Good for Egypt if he can achieve this. But he is again working outside the international rules. He is demanding things back that were removed well before the year cut-off. And once again he makes every threat he can think of to achieve his aim.

        The facts are that the countries that hold these artifacts are usually in a much better position to maintain the preservation of these items than Egypt is. He never takes this into consideration, and would prefer to have the item sitting in the basement of his museum for the next 50 years where no one can view it, and where it is susceptible to black market activity. AAiek

        1. Worthy of argument
          [quote]The facts are that the countries that hold these artifacts are usually in a much better position to maintain the preservation of these items than Egypt is. He never takes this into consideration, and would prefer to have the item sitting in the basement of his museum for the next 50 years where no one can view it, and where it is susceptible to black market activity. AAiek[/quote]

          That argument makes me wonder: Who can claim a bigger right on the past?

          Is it valid to permit the European museums to maintain their Egyptian artifacts, because supposedly they can preserve them better? Who can rise as arbiter between the claims of the Egyptians to demand what’s theirs, and the claims of the museums?

          Does the rights of the Egyptians become invalidated because there may not be direct descendants of the people who built the artifacts in the first place?

          What if the tables werre turned? What if some nation like Denmarkf or Sweden came to Washington and said “We have analized the situation, and concluded that your Bill of Rights and your Constitution would be safer in our keeping—given that our cities are not direct targets of terrorism— therefore it is your responsibility to relinquish them so they can be preserved for generations to come”. Do you think that would fly?

          —–
          It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
          It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

          Red Pill Junkie

          1. antiquities, oil, and such
            Similarly, what have the people who sit on the ground below which there are oil supplies, what have they done to put the oil there?

            Sure they deserve compensation for the disruption in their environment, their society, personal lives and such. And it they actually do some sort of work, they deserve compensation for that.

            Since there is a lot of money to be made from those sort of things, they deserve a share in unfair profits too. And if they are poor people, the richer people owe it to them to get them out of poverty, since there is extra money to be spent.

            But do they really own the oil, that has been there for millions of years? How about paying the people who do the work first?

            This is more true for the diamond miners in Africa, and miners in general. But still.

            —-
            It is not how fast you go
            it is when you get there.

          2. Oh!
            What a delicious argument you’re proposing here! Kudos, sir 🙂

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

          3. the second most traded commodity
            Do you know the second most commoddity traded, by monetary value?

            A much greater persenctage should be owed to the people who get it out of the ground than to the traders.

            I suspect you know what it is. Less money than oil, more than coal, more than diamonds, more than cocain. More than any food.

            Yet the people who get it out of the groun are typically poor.

            —-
            It is not how fast you go
            it is when you get there.

          4. Tough question!
            Could it be this?

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

          6. D’ouh!!
            Missed the obvious as usual 🙂

            Although, did you know that a pound of saffron is more valuable than a pound of gold? It’s true; you need like a gazillion flowers to collect a pound of saffron.

            Paella, anyone? 😉

            —–
            It’s not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me…
            It’s all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!

            Red Pill Junkie

          7. by weight ?
            Oh, by weight, try the ink for ink jet printers.

            Or perfume.

            Diamonds are dirt cheap by comparison.

            —-
            It is not how fast you go
            it is when you get there.

          8. “Is it valid to permit the
            “Is it valid to permit the European museums to maintain their Egyptian artifacts, because supposedly they can preserve them better? Who can rise as arbiter between the claims of the Egyptians to demand what’s theirs, and the claims of the museums?”

            This is world history that happens to have been found in what is now named Egypt. Preservation is the number one priority and if the masses can be educated by being able to view the item then that is a bonus. You may recall how he was demanding the Nefertiti bust returned because he was not happy with the display. Most would argue that a German Museum (like most Western Museums) could take better care of an ancient artifact than the current Egyptian regime, even if only budget allocations were taken into account.

            The only reason an arbiter may be required is because this fool has elevated this as a make or break issue. WIthout warning he has on more than one occasion openly slandered institutions and individuals after being invited to speak at this institution.

            “Does the rights of the Egyptians become invalidated because there may not be direct descendants of the people who built the artifacts in the first place?”

            He is definitely not a descendant of the people he continues to claim as his heritage. The large majority of the current population are descended from invaders from centuries past, like most countries. It is not their history, it is world history. This applies to all history.

            “What if the tables werre turned? What if some nation like Denmarkf or Sweden came to Washington and said “We have analized the situation, and concluded that your Bill of Rights and your Constitution would be safer in our keeping—given that our cities are not direct targets of terrorism— therefore it is your responsibility to relinquish them so they can be preserved for generations to come”. Do you think that would fly?”

            Well firstly the US would slander these countries in the world media, raising fears of a tactical nuclear threat from these country’s nuclear programs. They would then approach other gullible countries such as Great Britain and Australia; and together they would name themselves, “The Nations of the Willing”. Then eventually their secret services would locate “absolute evidence” of Weapons of Mass Destruction and present it to the UN. The rest is world history!!

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