Lost artefact from Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza found in Scotland

A lost artefact from Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza has been discovered hidden in a cigar tin at the University of Aberdeen.

The item was discovered by curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany while she was reviewing items in the university’s Asia collection late last year.

Eladany, who is originally from Egypt, was attracted to the cigar box because it was marked with her country’s former flag.

Inside she found a series of small fragments of wood which, after cross checking museum records, she identified as materials from the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The wood is believed to be a piece of cedar used in the pyramid’s construction.

The artefact is one of three items known as the “Dixon Relics”, the only articles to have been recovered from inside the Great Pyramid.

The trio of items were originally discovered by Waynman Dixon in the pyramid’s Queens Chamber in 1872.

The other two items, a ball and a hook, are housed in the British Museum.

However, the cedar wood was donated to the University of Aberdeen in 1946 by Dixon’s friend James Grant.

The artefact was never classified, however, and despite an extensive search when the item went missing, it could not be located.

READ: 900 ancient artefacts missing in Kuwait

Eladany was quoted by the BBC as saying: “The university’s collections are vast – running to hundreds of thousands of items – so looking for it has been like finding a needle in a haystack… I couldn’t believe it when I realised what was inside this innocuous-looking cigar tin.”

“Once I looked into the numbers in our Egypt records I instantly knew what it was and that it had effectively been hidden in plain sight in the wrong collection.”

The dating of the item was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic but recent results suggest the wood could be dated between 3341 and 3094 BC.

This timeframe supports the theory that the Dixon Relics were used in the original construction of the Great Pyramid and were not items left behind by those exploring the chambers.

However, the dating also suggests the wood was around nearly 500 years before the pyramids were built.

Neil Curtis, head of museums and special collections at the university, explained the discrepancy saying: “This may be because the date relates to the age of the wood, maybe from the centre of a long-lived tree. Alternatively, it could be because of the rarity of trees in ancient Egypt, which meant that wood was scarce, treasured and recycled or cared for over many years.”

Curits added: “This discovery will certainly reignite interest in the Dixon Relics and how they can shed light on the Great Pyramid.”

READ: Britain to return looted Iraq artefact