Ancient Egyptian Relic Hidden for Millennia Emerges from Unexpected Scottish Cigar Box Mystery
According to Smithsonian Magazine, Eladany — who previously worked at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo — uncovered the missing artifact that was part of a trio of items known as the “Dixon relics,” which were the only pieces ever taken from the Queen’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza during the 19th century.
Two of the objects — a ball and a hook — were eventually placed in the British Museum. The third artifact, this five-inch piece of cedar wood, was sent to be stored at the university. But the artifact went missing after it was misfiled.
That is until Eladany came across an old cigar box bearing Egypt’s former flag. After she uncovered the wooden fragment, Eladany cross-checked the artifact with the museum’s records and realized what she had found.
University of AberdeenArchaeologist Abeer Eladany uncovered the missing artifact while combing through the university’s archives.
In 1872, engineer Waynman Dixon and his friend James Grant, a physician and explorer, carried out excavations of the pyramid under permission from the Egyptian Antiquities Service. During their excavations, the two men took the trio of artifacts from the Great Pyramid, the only items known to ever be removed from inside the 4,500-year-old structure.
“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,” Eladany said. “I couldn’t believe it when I realized what was inside this innocuous-looking cigar tin.”
Researchers have yet to conclusively determine what the wooden fragment is, but it’s widely believed that it was used as a measuring tool during the construction of the Great Pyramid.
Post Comment