Page 72 - آثار مصر الفرعونية الجزء الأول

were rediscovered not long ago in the British Museum's
depository. They were items Dixon had originally taken from the
north shaft in the Queen's Chamber, and included a stone
(granite) sphere or ball, a wooden slat and a copper object in the
form of a swallow's tail which is now usually referred to as a
hook. (Actually, only the ball and hook were rediscovered in the
British Museum)

These objects, along with the robots' discoveries prompted
Stadelmann, who was head of the German Archaeological
Institute at the time of the Robot exploration, to conclude that the
shafts were in fact model corridors, through which the king's soul
could rise to the "stars that never are extinguished", that is, the
circumpolar stars in the northern sky as well as the "land of light"
in the southern sky". In other words, he reasoned that the shafts
were built for the dead king's journey up to heaven.

Of course, various questions remain. Other pyramids lack
these shafts, and moreover, the use of false doors, believed to
allow the deceased access to his or her offerings, needed not have
physical openings. Also, why do the shafts exist in both the
Queen's and King's chambers?

It is not impossible that the Queen's Chamber was intended
to serve as a backup burial chamber in the event of the pharaoh's
sudden death. Perhaps that is why the shafts in the Queen's
Chamber were later ritually sealed. It is worth noting that the

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