'Hidden in plain sight': Lost artefact from Great Pyramid of Giza found in cigar box

A long-lost artefact from the Great Pyramid of Giza has been found in a discovery at the University of Aberdeen. As per the official press release, this is one of only three objects ever recovered from inside the Wonder of the Ancient World. In 1872, engineer Waynman Dixon discovered a trio of items inside the pyramid’s Queens Chamber, which became known as the ‘Dixon relics’. Two of them are now housed in the British Museum. However the third object, which was a fragment of wood, has been missing for more than 70 years.

Missing piece discovered

Recently, while uncovering a small decorated cigar box, a university staff member discovered a piece of a 5,000 year old puzzle. The lost piece had generated many speculations. While some thought it was part of a measuring rule which could reveal clues regarding the pyramid’s construction, others thought it holds significance because of the potential for radiocarbon dating. As per a 2001 record, the wood fragment may have been donated to the University of Aberdeen’s museum collections because of a connection between Dixon and James Grant. 

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This finding was reported at a wide scale during those times. A British newspaper- ‘The Graphic’, carried a story  in December 1872 which said, “ ‘Although they possess remarkable interest, not alone on account of their vast antiquity, but from the evidence they are likely to afford as to the correctness of the many theories formed by Sir Isaac Newton and others as to the weights and measures in use by the builders of the pyramids. The position in which they were left shows that they must have been left there whilst the work was going on, and at an early period of its construction’.

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After Grant’s death, his collection was passed on to the University. The ‘five inch piece of cedar’ was donated by his daughter in 1946. However, it could never be located even after extensive research. Curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany, while conducting a review of items housed in the University’s Asia collection, during the end of last year, came across the piece. 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”. She added, “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”. 

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(Image Credits: YouTube/UniversityOfAberdeen)