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EARTHQUEST
NEWS
Andrew Collins Newsletter Vol. 12 No.
3(October 2009)
iii.
KHUFU'S
LOST TEMPLE FOUND AT GIZA?
On
Saturday, September 26th I was contacted by a correspondent in the United States
who said that a friend of hers living in Nazlet el-Samman, the village next to
the Giza plateau, had heard that six people had been killed the previous day after
a deep pit they had dug beneath a local house near the Sphinx collapsed in on
them. Rumour had it that they were attempting to reach a lost city or palace of
Khufu that legend asserted was located beneath the village. At least two people
were also now under arrest pending further investigations into these illegal activities.
This
seemed like an incredible story, although somehow it made sense for as far back
as 2005 I had been told of stories relating to the existence of this underground
city or palace by local people who firmly believed it to be there. One account
recorded in BENEATH THE PYRAMIDS even indicated that it could be reached via the
well Bir el-Samman in the Moslem cemetery beneath the gaze of Gebel Gibli, a few
hundred meters south of the Sphinx. However, I reasoned that these myths might
be distorted memories of Giza's cave underworld, which could extend beneath the
village.
I asked a correspondent with an American TV network to check out the claims, and
he was able to confirm that they were true. Six lives had been lost in this foolish
venture, although the unfortumate death of the individuals had enabled the Egyptian
authorities to retrieve various dynastic treasures that had been removed from
the pit prior to its collapse.
Then this week I heard that the haul of
priceless antiquities removed from the premises included items covered in gold
leaf, including a mummiform coffin. There is also now a persisting rumour that
the illegal dig has unearthed a lost "Temple of Khufu", which suggests
that the site and the antiqitities date back to the Old Kingdom, and are thus
contemporary with the Pyramids themselves.
I know no more at this time. However, it is a find that is both big in Egyptological terms, and ably demonstrates the sheer belief that persists among the residents of Nazlet el-Samman in a lost world beneath their very feet. It now seems like these legends, like those relating to Giza's cave underworld, are real. More on this story as it breaks.
To
buy BENEATH THE PYRAMIDS, Andrew's new book on the quest to find Giza's cave underworld,
from Amazon click here.
To
buy straight from the publisher, 4th Dimension Press, click here.
Secure
the special edition of BENEATH THE PYRAMIDS signed, numbered and stamped direct
from the author by clicking here and sending
an email with "Beneath the Pyramids" in the contents box (with no final
obligation to buy).
Listen
to an exclusive interview with me on the discoveries beneath the plateau on the
Philip Coppens website by clicking here.
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