By Zahi Hawass As we continue to understand more about the lives of the Pyramid builders through discoveries at Giza, both their tombs and settlements, an ever more remarkable picture emerges. During the construction of the Pyramids, when 70 per cent of the population worked on the massive monuments on a rotation basis, the workmen slept in galleries and woke before the sunrise. There was a strict system of organisation. The workers would leave for work in orderly files, marching one in front of the other, towards Heit Al-Ghorab (the Wall of the Crow) then entering the work area through the middle gate and proceeding towards the quarry. The work force consisted of 2,000 workmen, divided into two gangs of a 1,000 each. These were further divided into phyles (Greek word meaning tribe) consisting of 200 workmen, which were sub-divided into smaller gangs of either 10 or 20 workmen. Each gang and phyle had an overseer who had names such as "Friends of Menkaure" or "Drunkards of Menkaure". When working at Giza I often sense their presence, can visualise the ancient workers and imagine their thoughts. Perhaps they were quiet in the early morning, thinking of the hard day of work ahead. I doubt that all were happy to labour on a monument dedicated to the rebirth of the king. Quite likely many of the men who made their way towards the quarry wished to be at home with their families, and were perhaps more concerned with their own problems than the Pharaoh's Great Pyramid. Each worker would stop at the storage area where government tools were kept before entering through the Heit Al- Ghorab. Each was given tool for which he would have to sign a receipt; he received this again at the end of the day upon returning the tool. The location and distribution of the tools was strictly regulated. We know from the workmen's community at Deir Al-Medineh, which housed the builders of the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, that the tools used were hammers, axes and stone balls made of diorite and flint. The workers were young men recruited from their villages to participate in a national project, supported by the households of Upper and Lower Egypt. We believe that the total number of workmen was between 10,000 and 20,000, not 100,000 as estimated by Herodotus, the "father of history". Mark Lehner, an American Egyptologist found facilities for baking bread near the galleries, and I can imagine how the smell of the fresh bread filled the air. We used to believe that the workers' diet consisted of onions, garlic and bread and that they drank beer daily. Now we know that they also ate meat and that Bolti fish, a Nile fish popular among workmen, also formed a regular part of their diet. Fish bones were discovered in an area near the bakeries, and a bronze fish hook, similar to the hooks used by Nile fishermen to this day, was also found. Excavation around the settlement area at Giza continues to yield evidence of the workers' daily life. Certainly the workers were kept healthy with a diet that included sheep, goats, cattle, salted fish, garlic, onions, bread and beer. We were surprised to unearthed pottery vessels imported from Palestine, which told us that the workers were also given olive oil imported from Western Asia. To be continued..
