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Scott Creighton: The Great Pyramid Hoax II

In 1837, deep within the Great Pyramid of Giza, British army officer Colonel Richard W. Howard Vyse made a claim that would define Egyptology for generations: the “discovery” of painted hieroglyphs, including the royal cartouche of Khufu, the pyramid’s builder. This single event helped cement forever the idea that the Great Pyramid and all other pyramids at Giza were royal tombs. Yet when the surviving notebooks, sketches, and first-hand accounts from Vyse’s time are carefully examined, a different picture begins to emerge. The famous “Khufu cartouche” may not be ancient at all, but the product of a Victorian deception.