According to today's archaeological research, there are few remnants of permanent structures found on the ground in the tombs of Egyptian royal and aristocratic tombs, known as catacombs, before the early dynasties of about 2950-2686 BC.

And from the early dynasties, there was a new development in the form of burials of the pharaohs and top nobles, not only underground buildings, but also permanent above-ground buildings, which were "mastabas", that is, "flat-topped tombs".

Hearing Zhang Nan's explanation, Charlize Theron pursed her lips, "What a strange name." ”

Zhang Nan would still squat on the ground and carefully study whether the mud bricks and the layer of dry wood below that was about ten centimeters wide and six or seven centimeters thick had been damaged.

Hearing her words, he half-turned around and said, "Of course it's strange, it's a name that those archaeologists in modern times are lazy to make."

The above-ground structure of this high-ranking tomb in ancient Egypt was a rectangle with a small length-to-width ratio, and looked like a bench in the courtyard of the Arabs.

The Arab stool is called a mastaba, and it is used in this way.

I don't know if the early pharaohs of ancient Egypt knew this name, and their tombs were called the name of a stool under the ass of Arabs, and they would have been so angry that they would come back from the ground and cut people. ”

When the girls heard this, they all laughed: it is not virtuous enough!

The mausoleum, the stool under the ass, the person who can come up with this name is definitely a ghost lacking in virtue!

This "mastaba" is large and small, and it was only a special style for the pharaoh's mausoleum at first, and then gradually became a common situation in the tombs of nobles.

The last time he was digging pyramids in Sudan, Zhang Nan had studied the pyramids of Sudan and Egypt, and he knew that this pyramid was actually developed from the tomb of Mastaba, or it was simply piled up by someone's brain: the earliest pyramid in ancient Egypt was the step pyramid of the Pharaoh of the Third Dynasty, and the name of the architect was recorded, called Imhotep.

The pyramid of King Dzosse was originally designed in the form of a mastaba tomb, the largest of which is a square flat-topped tomb with a length of 63.5 meters on each side and a height of 7.9 meters on each side.

Later, Imhotep had a brainstorm, in order to reflect the strong monarchical authority of the Pharaoh of Zuosai, he had a whim, and expanded the surrounding area of the mausoleum to the outside of the building, and then added three layers of mastaba on it like a modern person makes a birthday cake, with a height of more than 40 meters.

The architect worked harder and harder, and later expanded the foundation of the above-ground building in the west and north directions, and added two more floors to it, thus forming a six-story overlapping mastaba tomb that gradually decreases upwards.

It's a brand new thing that's never been seen before, 60 meters high, 121 meters long at the base, 109 meters wide, and 28 meters deep in the catacombs: the Step Pyramid!

The tombs of the early pharaohs were not clustered, but after the appearance of the stepped pyramids, there were a number of smaller noble mastabas attached near the pyramids, a tradition that has continued for thousands of years.

Zhang Nan inspected the mud bricks of the landmark, because no matter how big or small the tomb is, the entrance passage of the underground building will be closed with mud bricks and wood, and the underground structure of the large mastaba tomb will be divided into more than two burial chambers.

Here, there are two mud bricks each more than ten meters apart, and it is obvious that this is a relatively large mastaba tomb.

This is a very professional knowledge of ancient Egyptian archaeology, read more professional books to know, those illiterate Egyptian laborers are unlikely to understand this, so as soon as William's archaeological team found a neat mud brick floor, they stopped the excavation here, and drove everyone to work at the pyramid ruins next to it.

The pyramids had been torn down like that, and Mr. Professor was only hoping to find that there were still underground passages that had not collapsed, and he did not think that there would be a good tomb of the pharaoh waiting to be excavated by himself.

A large mastaba tomb was enough for him to dig slowly......

It was to dig slowly, and when Zhang Nan saw the distribution of the mud bricks clearly, he probably understood the real reason why William Brin was looking for him.

"Mr. Allen, my team consists of only 6 people, two of whom are still female students, and only three men besides me.

There are only two of them who are strong enough, and according to the analysis of the outline of this tomb and the distance between the two mud bricks, even if the underground passage is vertical, the depth is at least ten meters or more, and my team alone cannot dig it at all. ”

William said a little helplessly, he is not a professional tomb robber, there is still a military control area nearby, and there are pyramid ruins on the side, he can't dig at all.

Not enough people!

In the early days of the mastaba's tomb, after the owner was buried, the burial chamber was closed with several layers of stone slabs, then filled with stones and sand, and finally the floor of the above-ground buildings was covered with a layer of stone slabs, one or two layers of wood planks, and one or two layers of mud bricks.

Some of the buildings on the ground were empty, and there were sacrifices in them for future generations to sacrifice.

But some will be filled with mud bricks, gravel, and sand!

Although it is said to be a permanent building, it is not surprising that if the quality is poor, it will collapse after a few hundred years, and the mud brick construction is not very solid, just look at the black pyramid that has collapsed a few kilometers away.

Probably because the above-ground construction of this tomb is of poor quality, it collapsed relatively early, but it has escaped the wave after wave of tomb robbery for thousands of years.

William said the reason, and Zhang Nan, who had already stood up, said, "You want my security personnel to make a cameo appearance as a miner?"

William Brin nodded: Mr. Allen is surrounded by dozens or hundreds of security personnel, all of them young and strong, and digging this is not a piece of cake.

But I didn't think about it, Zhang Nan refused.

"No, Professor William, these people are only responsible for my safety, they have guns in their hands, and I will not let them work with shovels and pickaxes. ”

Upon hearing this, William Brin couldn't believe that Mr. Allen actually refused!

Zhang Nan stretched out his hand to stop William, who was anxious to speak, and said: "My bodyguard is not suitable for this, but I have the best miner in the world."

You ask those Egyptians to keep clearing the sand, and at most a week later my guys will be there, and the visas will take a little bit because they're not Americans.

When my men arrive, you can let these Egyptians go, they are too amateurish. ”

After saying this, Zhang Nan said to Guan Xingquan behind him: "Those guys in Chile did a good job last time, make a call to the mining group and transfer them again."

Don't be in a hurry, just organize a tour group.

You don't need to bring professional tools, and I think the tools in the construction site here can deal with this kind of tomb. ”

A tourist visa is sufficient, two weeks at a time, and can be extended once, adding up to two months of validity.

The extension is very convenient, and the problem can be solved with a small amount of money.

As for the issue of tools, Zhang Nan is an expert and has a spectrum in his heart.

A noble tomb, with no interest in moving back in its entirety, let the Chilean guys do it, which is also a small punishment for William.

I'm leaving, I'm not going to wait stupidly at the construction site.

Take a look at the Red Pyramid and the Crooked Pyramid today, take Charlie to Giza tomorrow, and start the day after tomorrow......

I still remember "Tragedy on the Nile", this trip has a few days to spare, just enough to go for a trip.