Pyramids Not Built by Slaves, said Egypt's Chief Archaeologist

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The Great Pyramids of Giza

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The Great Pyramids of Egypt were widely believed to be constructed by slaves, but evidence now show that the pyramid builders were free men. Tombs of workers were found beside their king's, indicating that they were free workers and not slaves. Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist of the Egyptian excavation team, said, "If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their kings." Furthermore, graffiti on the walls from workers were found, who called themselves "friends of Khufu".

The perception that pyramids were built by slaves was in part perpetrated by Hollywood movies, which held that ancient Israelite slaves built the pyramids. Amihai Mazar, professor at the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, clarified, "No Jews built the pyramids because Jews didn't exist at the period when the pyramids were built."

The collection of workers' tombs were found in the 1990 when a horse stumbled on a brick structure few meters away from the area.