A long-lost piece of wood from the Great Pyramid of Giza has been discovered at a Scottish university, hidden in an out-of-place cigar box carrying an ancient Egyptian flag, officials said.
The cedar fragment, which dates back 5,000 years to the iconic pyramid building, was first discovered in the late 19th century, but had been extinct for more than 70 years, according to Aberdeen University .
The relic is one of three artifacts recovered from inside the oldest monument on the list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the largest of the three pyramids in the Giza complex in the Cairo area.
In 1872, engineer Waynman Dixon discovered the three elements – called “Dixon’s relics” – inside the Queens chamber of the pyramid, the university said.
Two of them, a ball and a hook, are now in the British Museum.
In 2001, a record indicated that the piece of wood could have been donated to the university as a result of a connection between Dixon and a doctor named James Grant, who studied in Aberdeen and went to Egypt to treat patients with cholera in the 1860s.
Grant befriended Dixon in Egypt, where they both found the relics, the university said.
The discovery was widely reported at the time, with the British newspaper The Graphic publishing an article in December 1872.
“Although they possess remarkable interest, not only because of their old antiquity, but from the evidence which will probably be allowed as to the correctness of the many theories formed by Sir Isaac Newton, and others as to the weights and measures use the builders of the pyramids, ”the article read.
“The position in which they remained shows that they must have been left there while the work was being done and in an initial period of its construction,” he added.
“After 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,” the university said in a communiqué.
“However, it was never classified and, despite extensive research, could not be located,” the school added.
But late last year, assistant curator Abeer Eladany was reviewing items from the university’s Asia collection when he came across the cigar box.
Inside he found several fragments of wood, which he later identified as a lost piece of wood from the Great Pyramid.
“Once I examined the numbers from our records in Egypt, I knew immediately what it was and that it had actually been hidden from view in a wrong collection,” Eladany said.
“I am an archaeologist and have worked on excavations in Egypt, but I never imagined it would be here in the north east of Scotland where I would find something so important to my own country’s heritage,” he continued.
“It may be just a small piece of wood, which is now divided into several pieces, but it is hugely significant as it is one of only three items that have been recovered from the interior of the Great Pyramid,” Eladany said.
“The University’s collections are extensive, with hundreds of thousands of articles, so looking for it has been like finding a needle in a haystack. I couldn’t believe it when I realized what was inside this innocuous-looking cigar can, ”he added.
The results of carbon dating, which have been delayed by coronavirus restrictions, placed the wood between 3341 and 3094 BC, about 500 years earlier than historical records dating the pyramid of the reign of Pharaoh Khufu.
“Finding the missing Dixon Relic was a surprise, but carbon dating has also been quite a revelation,” said Neil Curtis, head of museums and special collections at the University of Aberdeen.
“It’s even older than we thought. This may be because the date refers to the age of the wood, perhaps from the center of a long-lived tree, ”he said.
“Alternatively, it could be because of the rarity of trees in ancient Egypt, which meant wood was scarce, treasured and recycled or cared for for many years,” Curtis said.
“This discovery will certainly rekindle interest in Dixon’s relics and how they can shed light on the Great Pyramid,” he added.