Pyramids of the Giza Plateau

King’s Chamber in Khufu’s Pyramid
The Antechamber’s Second Low Passage provides access to the northeast corner of the King’s Chamber. There is a simple beauty to this flat-ceiling, rectangular shaped, granite room. Eyes immediately find the only object, the battered sarcophagus, at the west end and notice the mouths of the two “air channels.” In designing the chamber the architects employed whole cubits in multiples of 5 to the maximum extent possible.
The Antechamber’s granite floor continues into the King’s Chamber. The Chamber’s 21 granite floor blocks are laid between the walls instead of having the walls placed on top of the floor. As in the Antechamber, here we find additional evidence that the quality of workmanship evident at the start of Pyramid construction had declined. Petrie found the King’s Chamber floor to be uneven, with a variation of 2.29”. Taking the joint at the top of the lowest granite wall course as a level line, Petrie measured the level of the floor below this joint and found a range from 40.65” to 42.94”, a significant difference over a relatively small area. While this difference could be attributed to settling or earthquakes, with no weight on the floor and a great weight on the walls, we would expect the walls to be impacted more severely. This is not the case and the poor workmanship displayed in laying the Antechamber floor has been carried into the King’s Chamber.
In the northwest corner robbers pried up the granite floor blocks and cut a hole in the underlying limestone in an apparent search for treasurer in a hidden space under the King’s Chamber. The hole descended about 30’ into an area 6’ to 10’ wide. While the hole was unfortunate, it did provide an opportunity to directly observe that the bottom of the granite walls sit on the underlying limestone 5” below floor level. This hole was closed during the 1999 restoration and the floor returned to its original condition.
The ceiling is formed of nine flat granite beams laid across the short north – south dimension. These are the largest known blocks in the pyramid, weighing an average of 50 tons. Compared to the walls, the ceiling beams are roughly dressed and each has cracks along the south side. Petrie identified cement daubed in by fingers filling the cracks at the Chamber’s eastern end and plaster covering a foot square area at the southwest corner. The filling provides evidence that at least some of the cracks occurred before the pyramid was closed.
The uninscribed and undecorated sarcophagus was cut from a single block of red granite; the missing lid would have been cut from the bottom of the block. The outside surface is relatively smooth but not finely finished with saw marks visible on each side. These marks can be easily identified by shining a flashlight across the surface; on the north face plainly revealing two places where the saw cut too deeply and was backed out. The saw lines show that the long east and west sides and the short north side were cut horizontally while the short south side was cut vertically. Considering the length of the sarcophagus, the saw would have been at least 9’ long. Petrie raised the sarcophagus and found it sat on the chamber floor with nothing below but a large flint pebble. This pebble may have been introduced when ancient robbers also checked underneath. While there should have been pieces of granite and limestone readily available resulting from the break-in, flint had to be brought from the outside.
The sarcophagus was too large to pass through the Pyramid passages. The outside measurements of the sarcophagus are slightly larger than the 38.2” wide bottom of the Ascending Passage, the smallest part of the passage system, providing evidence that the sarcophagus was placed into the King’s Chamber before the Chamber ceiling was closed.
As in the Queen’s Chamber, both the King’s Chamber long north and south walls have openings for “air shafts” at the top of the lowest wall course. While the position of the Queen’s Chamber shafts are at mid-chamber and the shafts in the larger King’s Chamber are closer to the east end, they are within 15” of being placed one above the other. If the architect intended a vertical alignment, he could have easily come closer since the east walls of both chambers are aligned. Both King’s Chamber shafts penetrate horizontally through the chamber’s granite lining, than rise at varying angles towards the pyramid surface. Rudolf Gantenbrink cleared the King’s Chamber shafts in 1992 and explored both for their full length with a video camera equipped robot called Upuaut I. He also installed a ventilation system in the southern shaft to improved temperature and humidity inside the pyramid.
The north shaft does not rise at one angle or at one azimuth but makes five incline changes and at least four and likely five changes in azimuth. At the lower end the shaft initially both rises and angles towards the west to miss the Grand Gallery by more than 17’ before turning back to the north. The rough tunnel Caviglia cut in 1817 into the west wall of the Antechamber first low passage intersects with the north “air channel” and follows its path for 16’. From this passage an observer can see the turns. At the upper end where the shaft opens on the pyramid surface, robbers excavated downward along the shaft for a distance of 37’ without apparently finding anything.
The wall around the south shaft opening was seriously mutilated and is closed and hidden today by a ventilating fan blowing air up the shaft. The initial rising section changes angle twice, then after 27’ rises at a steady 45 angle to the surface.