New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slavesFilms and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts
Egypt's chief archeologist Zahi Hawas claims the collection of workers' tombs were among the most significant finds in the 20th and 21st centuries.
He said "What has been discovered this week is some tombs for one of the workers chief called "Edeo" and the workers whom worked under his supervision.
They were buried down small tombs beside his cemetery, in addition to another cemetery without any name belonging to one of the workers chief and nearby it are the discovered tombs.
"The shape and the form of these tombs show that they date back to the fourth dynasty. Moreover its location nearby the (grand) pyramid indicates that this place is where they started building the workers tombs - workers who participated in building King Khufu's pyramids certainly."
He also said that there is evidence suggesting the men who built the pyramids worked three month rotating shifts and ate plenty of meat.
The tombs, on the Giza plateau on the western edge of Cairo, are 4,510 years old.
