Off The Record

The Discovery Made By Archaeologists Beneath The Egyptian Pyramids Changes Everything We Thought We Knew

Published on March 20, 2025

A stunning archaeological find has fundamentally changed our understanding of Ancient Egypt for all time.

And pyramids are at the center of it all. As of right now, researchers examining the nearly 3,000-year-long period have found more than 110 of the four-sided structures from Ancient Egypt.

Following a finding in the Tombos region of present-day Sudan, once known as Nubia, archaeologists have recently disproved a long-held historical premise regarding the pyramids of Ancient Egypt.

Around 1,500 BC, Pharaoh Thutmose I subjugated the African territory south of present-day Egypt, and Ancient Egypt ruled over it for the following four centuries.

What have archaeologists discovered in Tombos pyramids?

Archaeologists have revised their own pyramidal rules when examining a burial site at the historic village of Tombos.

It has long been believed that pyramids were reserved for the wealthiest members of society and those who could afford to pay for such a funeral.

However, Tombos has since proposed that lower-class laborers were also given a place in the pyramids’ tombs in ancient Egypt.

For the past ten years, Sarah Schrader of Leiden University in the Netherlands has been diligently working at the location.

Schrader’s research has shown what the inhabitants of the Tombos pyramids actually did.

Upon examining their remains, it was discovered that a diverse range of individuals were present.

What the pyramid remains tell us

Various individuals who had not performed a lot of labor-intensive work in their lives made up the skeletons in the pyramids. However, several of the remains also revealed evidence of extremely hectic work lives.

“Our findings suggest that pyramid tombs, once thought to be the final resting place of the most elite, may have also included low-status high-labor staff,” the paper on the discovery said in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology.

Schrader said that ‘at first we didn’t quite understand what the data meant’, adding, “I think we have assumed for far too long that pyramids were just for the rich.”

According to Schrader, archaeological evidence from all around Ancient Egypt suggests that people of elite position had completely distinct activity patterns from those of non-elites. Some have even proposed that the high-activity remains belonged to aristocrats who were kept in good health.