Ancient Egypt

This is a difficult question to definitively answer because each site has had a different impact on our understanding of past cultures and people. If I had to decide on one, the Great Pyramids would be my favorite of the semester. While it is a much more well know site, the details of the Great Pyramids and history behind them are fascinating and not known to many.

One of the captivating aspects of the Great Pyramids is their location. Before this class, I always thought the pyramids were located out in the desert, away from people and essentially in the middle of nowhere. This was a very false perception. They Pyramids are actually located extremely close to the city of Giza. The famous photos of the pyramids are taken in a specific location which does not leave the city in site. In reality, from many locations around the pyramids, the city is in sight.

Also an interesting aspect of the pyramids is the context in which they are located. They pyramids are not just free standing structures on their own in the landscape. They are surrounded by other aspects of the civilization which built them. One of the greatest of these is the town (Heit el-Ghurab) which was present that supported the efforts to build the pyramids. There is evidence this town had living areas, cooking rooms and government like buildings. These structures allowed people to inhabit the area during the time it took to build the pyramids and were critical to the success of the project. Even with their significance to the pyramids, they are unknown to much of the public.

Another interesting aspect of the pyramids is the fascination of them by so many and the myths that have arisen over the years about how they were built. As described in class, these “Pyramidiots” have developed elaborate “theories” about the building of the structures. These theories include aliens and lost civilizations such as Atlantis. The basis for many of these theories is that the Egyptians were not capable of building the structures themselves. There is evidence however that the Egyptians were very much capable of building these structures. Many of these myths about the pyramids have been created by individuals with relatively high standing in society. These include congressmen and university professors. Many claim to be experts of the subject yet have very little evidence to back up their theories. It is fascinating how people have thought of the pyramids and how this fascination has led to the development of these myths and how some people actually believe them.

These are some of the reasons why I found the Great Pyramids to be the most interesting and fascinating site we studied this semester.