Hetep-Heres

In 1925, a photographer was setting up his tripod, about to take a photograph of the Great Pyramid, when 1 leg suddenly sank into the ground. When this was investigated, it was found that there was a sealed shaft and stairway there. The shaft was over 89 ft (27 m) deep, and filled with masonry, which took many weeks to clear. At the bottom there was a chamber containing an empty alabaster sarcophagus and a small alabaster box, which turned out to be a canopic chest containing embalmed internal organs. There was also some disassembled furniture there, which a master craftsman has since reassembled (several chairs, a bed and a canopy). Further investigation revealed that the chamber belonged to Khufu’s mother, Queen Hetep-Heres.

The Queen had probably been buried at Dashur along with her husband Snefru, but her tomb had been violated and her mummy destroyed. Khufu then probably ordered that his mother’s internal organs be reburied at Giza along with her funerary ornaments (hence the furniture) in a sealed chamber deep beneath the surface, where she would not be disturbed again.