Page 136 - اثار مصر الفرعونية2

been much studied, with a history of modern research not unlike
that of Khufu's monument. In 1818, the strongman of
Egyptology, Giovanni Belzoni, succeeded in penetrating into the
pyramid's interior after a failed attempt by Giovanni Caviglia
only a year earlier. Belzoni discovered the pyramid's "upper
entrance" and managed to investigate its subterranean sections.
However, the first extensive exploration of the monument was
made in 1837 by Perring.

Mariette directed excavations of the pyramid's Valley
Temple, which is also related to the Great Sphinx, in 1853. A
year later, he was responsible for unearthing one of ancient
Egypt's most famous and beautiful statues, that of Khafre on his
throne with the protective outstretched winds of the falcon god,
Horus, sheltering his head from behind. While Petrie also worked
on this pyramid complex while at Giza, the first systematic
modern excavations did not occur until the German Ernst von
Sieglin expedition of 1909-1910 under the direction of Uvo
Holscher. Later in the 1930s, Hassan unearthed the boat pits
associated with the pyramid, and in recent times, Lehner and
Hawass have investigated the pyramid complex under the
auspices of the American Giza Plateau Mapping Project. Their
work has mostly centered around modern geodetic measuring
techniques, which has yielded considerable knowledge on both
the pyramid, and the archaeology of architecture.

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