發現：埃及金字塔並非奴隸所建
New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Sunday.
Films 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.
"These tombs were built beside the king's pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves," Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement.
"If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king's."
He said the collection of workers' tombs, some of which were found in the 1990s, were among the most significant finds in the 20th and 21st centuries. They belonged to workers who built the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre.
Hawass had earlier found graffiti on the walls from workers calling themselves "friends of Khufu" - another sign that they were not slaves.
The tombs, on the Giza plateau on the western edge of Cairo, are 4,510 years old and lie at the entrance of a one-km (half mile)-long necropolis.
Hawass said evidence had been found showing that farmers in the Delta and Upper Egypt had sent 21 buffalo and 23 sheep to the plateau every day to feed the builders, believed to number around 10,000 - or about a tenth of Greek historian Herodotus's estimate of 100,000.
These farmers were exempted from paying taxes to the government of ancient Egypt - evidence that he said underscored the fact they were participating in a national project.
The first discovery of workers' tombs in 1990 came about accidentally when a horse stumbled on a brick structure 10 meters (yards) away from the burial area
埃及首席考古學家於上週日稱，日前在吉薩發現的新墓羣表明，大金字塔的建造者是自由工人，而非人們普遍認爲的奴隸。
長期以來，影視作品和媒體報道所描繪的都是奴隸們爲了建造宏偉的金字塔在沙漠中長期勞役，最終精力耗盡而慘死。
埃及發掘隊的首席考古學家扎希•哈瓦斯說：“這些墓穴修建在埋葬國王的金字塔旁，這意味着這些人絕不是奴隸。”
“如果他們是奴隸，他們是不能把自己的墳墓建在國王的墳墓旁的。”
他說，這些勞工的墳墓是20世紀和21世紀最重要的發現之一，其中一部分墳墓發現於上世紀90年代。這些墳墓埋葬的是那些建造胡夫和哈夫拉金字塔的勞工。
之前哈瓦斯還在牆上發現了勞工們的塗鴉，他們自稱爲“胡夫的朋友”，再次證明這些人不是奴隸。
這些墓位於開羅西側吉薩高原上長達一公里（半英里）的墳場的入口處，迄今已有4510年的歷史。
哈瓦斯說，已發現的相關證據表明，當時（尼羅河）三角洲和埃及南部地區的農民每天都往建築工地送21頭水牛和23只羊，以解決工人們的吃飯問題，當時共有約1萬名工人蔘與金字塔建造，僅爲希臘歷史學家希羅多德所估計的10萬人的十分之一。
這些農民無需向古埃及政府繳納賦稅，哈瓦斯說這進一步證實了他們參與的是一個國家工程。
此類墓羣於1990年首次發現，當時一匹馬在距離墳地10米（碼）遠的一處土磚牆處跌倒，由此帶來了這一偶然的發現。
Vocabulary:
mammoth: extremely large 極其巨大的；龐大的
excavation: the activity of digging in the ground to look for old buildings or objects that have been buried for a long time （對古物的）發掘，挖掘
Khufu: Egyptian Pharaoh of the 27th century BC who commissioned the Great Pyramid at Giza 胡夫，埃及第四王朝第二位法老，在位期間建造了大金字塔
Khafre: king of Egypt (c. 2550 bc) of the 4th dynasty. He built the second pyramid and is thought to have built the Sphinx at Giza 哈夫拉，埃及第四王朝的第三位法老，他繼承了胡夫的王位，在吉薩建立了世界上第二大金字塔——哈夫拉金字塔和獅身人面像
graffiti: drawings or writing on a wall, etc. in a public place. They are usually rude, humorous or political. （公共牆壁等上通常含有粗俗、幽默或政治內容的）塗畫，塗鴉
necropolis: a place where dead people are buried, especially a large ancient one 墳場；（尤指）古代大墓地
buffalo: a large cow with horns that curve upwards 水牛
Herodotus: 希羅多德，古羅馬時代歷史學家，被譽爲“歷史之父”，著有《歷史》一書
exempt sb. from sth.: to release someone from the obligation to do something; to allow a person not to be affected by a rule or law 豁免某人，使某人免於做某事
