We don’t have much information about those rulers who ruled Egypt before the emergence of Egyptian pyramids because they were not having knowledge like their forth coming generations to preserve their mummies. That is the reason why archaeologists have managed to get just their vanished remains encircled by mud-brick walls.
By now the excavations have shown that people used to gather there in order to perform there ritual rites and perpetuate the glory of their departed ruler. In this series, we find Shunet el-Zebib at Abydos that was built as a monument of King Khasekhemwy, who ruled around 2780 B.C, is among the monuments that considers as a most recognizable form.
Now, the massive efforts are in progress to protect this ruin in its actual form.The laborers under the surveillance of archeologists, engineers are constructing new walls to support the mud-brick walls that replicate the old ones. So far, the project has cost around $1 million the last two years and the same amount of money is required to complete the job.
David O’Connor, an Egyptologist at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, is quoted as saying:
We are not trying to restore the original structure, producing a kind of Walt Disney thing. He added that we are preserving and stabilizing it as it is in a way that reflects its nearly 5,000-year history.
On going excavations contradict the past description of ruins by the British archaeologists who investigated the site more than a century ago; upheld the view described that the enclosures are fortresses but recent findings particularly about the king Khasekhemwy, revealed that inside these centers royal mortuary practices were performed.
However, the archaeologists are largely in the dark because of the lack of inscriptions and unavailability of historical facts that could correlate with other historical details.
Via: NYTimes
