Ancient Egyptian Tombs

When you hear the words “tomb robbers,” what image does this conjure up for you? Do you imagine a bunch of guys wearing dark clothing and masks breaking down stones that form the opening of some ancient, secretive grave? And do you wonder what the dead were trying to protect by making elaborate pyramids to hide their wealth inside? “Ancient Egyptian tombs were used to bury their dead. Sometimes these tombs were in the form of a sarcophagus, sometimes a crypt or a vault or chamber” (Grolier.Com). Tombs were used for many different people, they were even sometimes passed from one person to the other. Tombs were mostly used for Pharaohs, this is because the Pharaohs were the highest class. The Pharaohs were put into tombs so they could pass

Although this is true there were other types of tomb robbers” (History Embalmed.com). One type of tomb robbers were actually the Pharaohs themselves. Pharaohs would stealing goods from other grave and then using them for their own. Pharaohs often reused tombs of other Pharaohs to save time, energy and money. “Tomb robbers came from many walks of life.” (Perl 77). Most of the tomb robbers in ancient were the people who had something to do with creating the tomb or placing the mummy, this because they knew their way around the tomb. Tomb robbers ranged from low class laborers to corrupt priests and government officials. Tomb robbers also included artisans and artists, tomb architects and police guards. Tomb robbing became a family business in ancient egypt, this was usually because very low class families, such as peasants, needed money. The male family members would go into the tomb and take what they could get. Then later the families would sell the “loot” for money, they even sometimes sold the items to other tomb robbers. Grave robbers were always in a hurry, they broke into the tomb and stole whatever they could find that had value. They wanted to grab valuables and

The robbers were fast working, smashing the coffin lid trying to get at the mummy. The tomb robbers would then proceed to rip and smash all of the mummy’s wrappings just to get at the jewelry hidden under the wrapping. “Arms and legs might be pulled off the bodies, and in some cases, the stripped mummies were actually burned to provide light by which to loot the rest of the tomb. The brittle bodies, coated with resin, gave bright flame” (Perl 80). “When they ripped the fabric around the mummy, the preserved body, looking for treasure buried in the wrappings. This put the Ba and Ka at great risk” (Grave Robbers For