Tomb of Hetepheres I
Ancient Egyptian shaft tomb at Giza / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The tomb of Hetepheres I (also G 7000x) is an Ancient Egyptian shaft tomb at Giza. It is part of the Eastern Cemetery of the Great Pyramid of Giza (Necropolis G 7000) and is located near the northeast corner of the northern pyramid of Queen G I-a. The Egyptian queen Hetepheres I was the mother of Khufu and probably the wife of Sneferu.
The tomb was discovered in 1925 by the staff of Egyptologist George Andrew Reisner. A shaft, more than 27 meters deep, leads to a chamber that still contains large parts of the queen's burial objects. The organic material of the finds had already decomposed, leaving only dust and tiny fragments. Through painstaking work, many of the objects could be reconstructed. The tomb became famous for the style and richness of the royal grave furnishings. It is the best-preserved tomb of a queen of the Old Kingdom.[1]
However, the tomb was not dug up. The alabaster sarcophagus was found empty, but the sealed canopic jar containing the entrails was still intact. No satisfactory explanation has yet been found for these findings. It was certainly not the Queen Mother's regular tomb. It may have been a hidden grave (cachette) to protect her from grave robbers, or an emergency grave.[2]