The Giza Plateau is one of the most famous cemeteries in the world–or rather group of cemeteries around central pyramids, sometimes called a Necropolis. Many ancient egyptians were buried at Giza during only a few generations of the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, which included the builders of the Great Pyramid and two other major pyramids on the Giza Plateau. Then the site was abandoned for about 1,000 years before having new, smaller burials again in the New Kingdom period.
The Plateau is a limestone outcropping nearby the modern-day city of Cairo, Egypt, which includes the modern day district called Giza. The limestone was quarried and cut into blocks that were used to build the pyramids, and you can still see the remnants of these quarries when you walk around the plateau today.
You can visit the Giza Plateau today in Egypt and walk to many of the tombs and go inside some of the pyramids. There are many important books written about the Giza Plateau if you’re interested in learning more, and you might start by reading “Giza and the Pyramids” and “Digital Giza” to learn more about the digital efforts to make knowledge about Giza widely available to the public.
There also have been many conspiracy theories about the Giza Plateau and the pyramids–almost starting since they were first created. It makes sense!--these are beautiful and incredible monuments and testament to the ingenuity and craftsperson-ship of the Ancient Egyptians. Without being able to evaluate all of these theories, it’s important to offer education about these monuments so that people can learn about the Ancient Egyptian people and civilization and make their own conclusions based on the evidence of seeing many of these tombs and pyramids for themselves.
