‘Lost’ Ancient Egyptian relic taken from the Great Pyramid found in cigar box tin in Aberdeen

The artefact had been lost for over a century 
Lost artefact from Great Pyramid
PA

A lost 5,000-year-old artefact taken from inside the Great Pyramid has been discovered in a cigar tin in a university collection.

The fragment of cedar wood was one of only three objects ever recovered from inside the pyramid at Giza in Egypt after they were discovered in the Queens Chamber in 1872 by the engineer Waynman Dixon.

Two of them – a ball and hook – are now housed in the British Museum but the piece of wood had been missing for more than a century.

In 2001, a record was discovered which indicated the wood fragment may have been donated to the University of Aberdeen’s museum collections but it had never been classified and could not be found.

Until curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany, from Egypt, made the unexpected discovery while she was conducting a review of items housed in the university’s Asia collection.

The archaeologist found a cigar tin with Egypt’s former flag on the top which did not seem to belong in the Asian collection and, after cross-referencing it with other records, realised it was the lost fragment, now in several pieces.

She said: “Once I looked into the numbers in our Egypt records, I instantly knew what it was and that it had effectively been hidden in plain sight in the wrong collection.

Lost artefact from Great Pyramid
Curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany with a cigar tin that she found which contained fragments of cedar wood recovered from inside the pyramid at Giza.
PA

“I’m an archaeologist and have worked on digs in Egypt but I never imagined it would be here in north-east Scotland that I’d find something so important to the heritage of my own country.

“It may be just a small fragment of wood, which is now in several pieces, but it is hugely significant given that it is one of only three items ever to be recovered from inside the Great Pyramid.

“The university’s collections are vast – running to hundreds of thousands of items – so looking for it has been like finding a needle in a haystack. I couldn’t believe it when I realised what was inside this innocuous-looking cigar tin.”

Lost artefact from Great Pyramid
Fragments of cedar wood, recovered from inside the pyramid at Giza
PA

Covid restrictions delayed the dating of the cedar fragment but recently-returned results show the wood can be dated to somewhere in the period 3341-3094BC – some 500 years earlier than historical records which date the Great Pyramid to the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu in 2580-2560BC.

This supports the idea that the Dixon relics were used during the construction of the Great Pyramid and were not later artefacts left behind by those exploring the chambers.

It is thought the fragment may have been donated to the University of Aberdeen’s museum collections as a result of a connection between Dixon and James Grant, who studied medicine at the university and in the mid-1860s went to Egypt to help with an outbreak of cholera.

There, he befriended Dixon and went on to help him with the exploration of the Great Pyramid, where they discovered the relics.

Following Grant’s death in 1895, his collections were bequeathed to the university while the “five inch piece of cedar” was donated by his daughter in 1946.

Neil Curtis, head of museums and special collections at the University of Aberdeen, said: “Finding the missing Dixon relic was a surprise but the carbon dating has also been quite a revelation.

“It is even older than we had imagined. This may be because the date relates to the age of the wood, maybe from the centre of a long-lived tree.

“Alternatively, it could be because of the rarity of trees in ancient Egypt, which meant that wood was scarce, treasured and recycled or cared for over many years.

“This discovery will certainly reignite interest in the Dixon relics and how they can shed light on the Great Pyramid.”

Priest and scribe Nesyamun has lay silent for 3,000 years, but researchers created a 3-D printed version of his vocal tract after the mummy’s remains were given a CT scan.

Additional reporting by PA Media

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in