Free Republic

A new study suggests that the first of seven key pyramids in Egypt, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, was built using a hydraulic lift. Dated to about 4,500 years ago, this would move up the introduction of major hydraulic systems from previous beliefs. The landscape, waterways, and interior architecture of the pyramid all point to the hydraulic system.

Explanation: The early morning planet parade continues. Visible the world over, the planets Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn have been lining up in the pre-dawn sky since mid-April. In the featured image taken last month, these planets were captured over the Step Pyramid of Djoser, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Located in the Saqqara necropolis of Egypt, the pyramid was constructed in the 27th century BC and is one of the oldest pyramids known. The two-image composite includes a foreground image taken during evening blue hour, and a background image captured from the same location the following morning. The morning...

Salma al-Shimi, who has thousands of followers on Instagram, last week posted images of herself in ancient Egyptian garb with pharaoh-like accessories near the 4,700-year-old Step Pyramid of Djoser, according to the Guardian. The busty model and lensman Houssam Mohammad allegedly took part in the shoot “without authorization in the Saqqara archaeological site,” They were released on bail pending the results of a probe of what local media described as “provocative and offensive” images, according to the outlet. ... Shimi had appeared before a public prosecutor and argued that her goal had been to promote tourism rather than offend Egypt......

THE TOMB of an ancient Egyptian king who lived around 4,500 years ago has been restored and opened to the public. King Djoser's death thousands of years ago was honoured by the building of the stunning South Tomb but his body remains in the nearby Step Pyramid.... ....Guests enter through a large rectangular entrance and then down 98 feet to a labyrinth of corridors below. There is a burial chamber in the tomb but it is seen as too small to have been anything more than symbolic....

Zahi Hawass doesn’t like what he’s seeing. Clad in his familiar denim safari suit and wide-brimmed bush hat, the famed archaeologist is standing inside the burial vault of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, a six-tiered, lopsided mound of limestone blocks constructed nearly 5,000 years ago. The huge, gloomy space is filled with scaffolding. A restoration and conservation project, at Saqqara outside Cairo, initiated by Hawass in 2002, has been shoring up the sagging ceiling and walls and staving off collapse. But the February 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak—and also ended Hawass’ controversial reign as the supreme chief of all...