考古學家發(fā)現(xiàn)埃及金字塔并非奴隸所建

In this undated photo released by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities on Sunday, January 10, 2010, pottery and bones are seen in a tomb, in Giza, Egypt. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a new set of tombs of the workers who built the great pyramids, shedding new light on how the laborers lived and ate more than 4,000 years ago, the antiquities department said Sunday. Zahi Hawass, the director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, says the tombs are significant because they show that the pyramids were not built by slaves, but rather free workers.(Agencies)

New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Sunday.

Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammothpyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts.

"These tombs were built beside the king's pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves," Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavationteam, said in a statement.

"If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king's."

He said the collection of workers' tombs, some of which were found in the 1990s, were among the most significant finds in the 20th and 21st centuries. They belonged to workers who built the pyramids of Khufuand Khafre.

Hawass had earlier found graffition the walls from workers calling themselves "friends of Khufu" - another sign that they were not slaves.

The tombs, on the Giza plateau on the western edge of Cairo, are 4,510 years old and lie at the entrance of a one-km (half mile)-long necropolis.

Hawass said evidence had been found showing that farmers in the Delta and Upper Egypt had sent 21 buffaloand 23 sheep to the plateau every day to feed the builders, believed to number around 10,000 - or about a tenth of Greek historian Herodotus's estimate of 100,000.

These farmers were exempted frompaying taxes to the government of ancient Egypt - evidence that he said underscored the fact they were participating in a national project.

The first discovery of workers' tombs in 1990 came about accidentally when a horse stumbled on a brick structure 10 meters (yards) away from the burial area.

埃及首席考古學家于上周日稱，日前在吉薩發(fā)現(xiàn)的新墓群表明，大金字塔的建造者是自由工人，而非人們普遍認為的奴隸。

長期以來，影視作品和媒體報道所描繪的都是奴隸們?yōu)榱私ㄔ旌陚サ慕鹱炙谏衬虚L期勞役，最終精力耗盡而慘死。

埃及發(fā)掘隊的首席考古學家扎希 哈瓦斯說：“這些墓穴修建在埋葬國王的金字塔旁，這意味著這些人絕不是奴隸。”

“如果他們是奴隸，他們是不能把自己的墳墓建在國王的墳墓旁的。”

他說，這些勞工的墳墓是20世紀和21世紀最重要的發(fā)現(xiàn)之一，其中一部分墳墓發(fā)現(xiàn)于上世紀90年代。這些墳墓埋葬的是那些建造胡夫和哈夫拉金字塔的勞工。

之前哈瓦斯還在墻上發(fā)現(xiàn)了勞工們的涂鴉，他們自稱為“胡夫的朋友”，再次證明這些人不是奴隸。

這些墓位于開羅西側(cè)吉薩高原上長達一公里（半英里）的墳場的入口處，迄今已有4510年的歷史。

哈瓦斯說，已發(fā)現(xiàn)的相關證據(jù)表明，當時（尼羅河）三角洲和埃及南部地區(qū)的農(nóng)民每天都往建筑工地送21頭水牛和23只羊，以解決工人們的吃飯問題，當時共有約1萬名工人參與金字塔建造，僅為希臘歷史學家希羅多德所估計的10萬人的十分之一。

這些農(nóng)民無需向古埃及政府繳納賦稅，哈瓦斯說這進一步證實了他們參與的是一個國家工程。

此類墓群于1990年首次發(fā)現(xiàn)，當時一匹馬在距離墳地10米（碼）遠的一處土磚墻處跌倒，由此帶來了這一偶然的發(fā)現(xiàn)。

Vocabulary:

mammoth:extremely large 極其巨大的；龐大的

excavation:the activity of digging in the ground to look for old buildings or objects that have been buried for a long time （對古物的）發(fā)掘，挖掘

Khufu:Egyptian Pharaoh of the 27th century BC who commissioned the Great Pyramid at Giza 胡夫，埃及第四王朝第二位法老，在位期間建造了大金字塔

Khafre:king of Egypt (c. 2550 bc) of the 4th dynasty. He built the second pyramid and is thought to have built the Sphinx at Giza 哈夫拉，埃及第四王朝的第三位法老，他繼承了胡夫的王位，在吉薩建立了世界上第二大金字塔——哈夫拉金字塔和獅身人面像

graffiti:drawings or writing on a wall, etc. in a public place. They are usually rude, humorous or political. （公共墻壁等上通常含有粗俗、幽默或政治內(nèi)容的）涂畫，涂鴉

necropolis:a place where dead people are buried, especially a large ancient one 墳場；（尤指）古代大墓地

buffalo:a large cow with horns that curve upwards 水牛

Herodotus:希羅多德，古羅馬時代歷史學家，被譽為“歷史之父”，著有《歷史》一書

exempt sb. from sth.:to release someone from the obligation to do something; to allow a person not to be affected by a rule or law 豁免某人，使某人免于做某事