In 1954, this pyramid was discovered at Saqqara by the Egyptian archaeologist, Zakaria Goneim. It is called the Unfinished Pyramid because it was never completed by its builder, the last king of the 3rd Dynasty, Sekhemkhet.

When Goneim discovered this pyramid in 1954 it was a major event in the press, making headlines everywhere. The most amazing part of his discovery was a cache of gold jewelry- 20 pieces of gold in bracelets and beads. Inside the substructure of the pyramid, Goneim came upon the burial chamber and made another astonishing discovery. In the burial chamber, the huge alabaster sarcophagus was still standing untouched. When Goneim examined it, he saw that it was still completely sealed, over 5000 years after the king’s death. Its sealed condition meant that something was still inside the sarcophagus, so Goneim informed the government.

This was a very important time in Egypt’s history; the revolution had just occurred in 1952, and President Nasser was becoming a national hero. He attended the opening of Khufu’s solar boat at Giza in the same month in 1954 that Goneim discovered the Unfinished Pyramid. Nasser came to the opening of the sarcophagus because of the media attention it was gaining, and because it was an important discovery- an intact royal sarcophagus. All the press came as well, everyone crowding into the burial chamber of the pyramid as they began to open the sarcophagus. As they peered inside, expecting a royal mummy, they discovered the sarcophagus was empty!

But the story did not end there. In Egypt, as everywhere, there are jealous people. I call these people the followers of the god Seth. Seth was the devil god in ancient Egypt, the god of chaos and disorder. When these followers see someone else succeeding, they become jealous and try to kill that person. When Zakaria Goneim became famous because of his discovery, he was a very important man in Egypt. He was placed in charge of a storehouse at Saqqara, which was full of antiquities.

At one point, a committee came to Saqqara to review the artifacts in the store without any reason. They found several pieces to be missing and accused Goneim, who was an honest man. Unfortunately, he was not a fighter like me, he did not stand up to his accusers, and he became very depressed that people would believe him to be a thief. He went to a casino in the area of Cairo called Manial el Roda, near the Nile, and threw himself into the river. Goneim died without defending himself, and two days later the missing artifacts were found. I wanted to share this story so everyone will understand that fame can be a burden and making discoveries is not an easy thing.