August, 2008. Work in progress.
The 4 links below do not work
Location 10 first pyramids
Location Giza Group
Location demands
Location all groups
Below a map based on a Google satellite photo. Location
You should go to Google Earth and take a trip to the westbank of the Nile and look for
All Egyptian pyramids for burials were erected west of the Nile where the Realm of Death
Khufu's Pyramid is the biggest af all pyramids in the world. It is one of three big pyramids
According to the Giza Plateau Mapping Project, 2007, the coordinates for the Pyramid
A higly detailed map of the Giza Plateau can be found at Wikipedia, "Great Pyramid of Giza".
The Giza Group has in total 11 pyramids, formed by 3 pyramid complexes. Khufu's pyra-
About 175 meters south-west is the later and slightly smaller Pyramid of Chefren (Khafra)
The volume of the three pyramids is 2.59, 2.21 and 0.235 million cubic meters for Khufu,
There is further 8 small satellite pyramids at the plateau. West and east of the pyramids are
The Giza Plateau has an area of about 1.5 km x 1.5 km, i.e. about 2 sq.km. The vast area
Before the project began, there were a number of demands in choice of location:
The Giza Plateau meets the listed demands. It lays on the westbank of the Nile and where
At the foot of the Pateau and towards east is today the small town of Nazlet es-Samman,
Examinations of soil between the Giza Plateau and the Nile suggest that the river was run-
Memphis, the capital of Lower Egypt to he north, is often mentioned in antique literature,
The Abusir Group
of the first 10 pyramids are shown. Size of the pyramids are
much exaggeratated. The Nile is shown as it runs today. It
was probably running several km to the west in times of the
Old Kingdom [Lehner,1997].
Northern Egypt seen from a NASA-satellite and delivered by Google.
the pyramids. Almost all (36?) royal pyramids are visible from Illahun in the south (Sen-
woret II's) to Abu Roash (Djedefre's) in the north.
was believed to be located.
pyramids in the Giza Group, the most northern of the pyramid groups.
of Khufu on the Globe are:
northern latitude 29° 58' 44.3830"
eastern longitude 31° 07' 57.0194"
mid has 3 satellite pyramids for burials of queens and 1 satellite pyramid without a burial
chamber, so his complex consists of 5 pyramids. Another way of description is to name
the kings pyramid as a primary pyramid and belonging and sourrounding pyramids as se-
condary pyramids.
with the Sfinx. Further south-west is the considerably smaller and last built Pyramid of My-
cerinos (Menkaura).
Khafra and Menkaura respectively.
several mastaba-s, graves for members of the royal family and for other high ranking persons.
The mastaba - from the arabic word for bench - was a royal grave before the period of pyramid-
building which began with the Pyramid of Djoser and perhaps only 80 years before the plan-
ning of Khufu's Pyramid.
can, by and large, be considered as very well excarvated. The Giza Plateau Mapping Project,
started in 1984, has contributed immensely, and has identified areas with kitchens and quar-
ters for the pyramid workers and revieled the quarry from where the vast part of the blocks to
the Plateau was brooken. And much more.
believed that the Realm of Death was located to the west, where the Sun goes down.
more than 2 km (the Red Pyramid) from the river. Closeness to the Nile offered a conve-
nient transport with boats for manpower, food, materials, and more, from areas far to the
north and south.
which were "easy" to break and shape to blocks of which the mainpart of the pyramid
would consists. The choice of location was not always blessed by the fortune, as seen
..continue.
rest without risk of overflow of water. The floor in the Subterranean Chamber in Khufu's
Pyramid is situated (20-25 meters?) heigher than (the peak?) of the weaterlevel of the Nile.
the delta separate the river into arms and then run towards the north and the Mediterranean
See.
a suburb to Giza (al-Gizah), which - once more - is a suburb to Cairo (al-Qahirah). In airline,
there is 15 km from the Giza Plateau to downtown Cairo on the opposite eastbank of the Nile.
ning several km closer to the Plateau, when Khufu's Pyramid was erected. It is a possibity-
that a harbour was constructed quit close to the Plateau and used when the waterlevel was
at its highest in the months of July and August after the seasonally rainfall in Sudan, Etopia,
and - 3.000 km to the south - in Uganda. It was incomprehensible for foreigners, such as Hero-
dotus, that the Nile was at it highest level in the summer time, when other known floods was
at its lowest.
but is very poorly archaeologically identified. Memphis might have extended from the Giza
Plateau and along the Nile to Saqqara, 15 km or 9 miles to the south. Khufu's residens has
not been found.
The Saqqara Group
The Dashur Group
The Meidum Group
Elsewere in Egypt are (5-7?) isolated pyramids. For marking of the royal territory?
