New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Sunday.

埃及首席考古学家于上周日称，日前在吉萨发现的新墓群表明，大金字塔的建造者是自由工人，而非人们普遍认为的奴隶。

Supreme¹ Council of Antiquities² on Sunday, January 10, 2010, pottery³ and bones are seen in a tomb, in Giza, Egypt. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a new set of tombs of the workers who built the great pyramids, shedding new light on how the laborers⁴ lived and ate more than 4,000 years ago, the antiquities department said Sunday. Zahi Hawass, the director of Egypt" width="400" height="235" s="" the="" supreme="" that="" free="" rather="" but="" by="" built="" not="" were="" pyramids="" show="" they="" because="" significant="" are="" tombs="" says="" of="" council="" src="/upimg/100116/4_032556_1.jpg" />
In this undated photo released by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities on Sunday, January 10, 2010, pottery and bones are seen in a tomb, in Giza, Egypt. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a new set of tombs of the workers who built the great pyramids, shedding new light on how the laborers lived and ate more than 4,000 years ago, the antiquities department said Sunday. Zahi Hawass, the director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, says the tombs are significant because they show that the pyramids were not built by slaves, but rather free workers.

Films and media have long depicted描画，描述 slaves toiling⁶ away长期劳累，吃力地走开 in the desert to build the mammoth猛犸似的，巨大的 pyramids only to meet a miserable⁸ death at the end of their efforts.

"These tombs were built beside the king's pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves," Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist考古学家 heading the Egyptian excavation⁹发掘，发掘 team, said in a statement.

"If they were slaves, they would not have been able to build their tombs beside their king's."

He said the collection of workers' tombs, some of which were found in the 1990s, were among the most significant finds in the 20th and 21st centuries. They belonged to workers who built the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre.

Hawass had earlier found graffiti涂鸦 on the walls from workers calling themselves "friends of Khufu" - another sign that they were not slaves.

The tombs, on the Giza plateau高原 on the western edge of Cairo, are 4,510 years old and lie at the entrance of a one-km (half mile)-long necropolis大墓地.

Hawass said evidence had been found showing that farmers in the Delta三角洲 and Upper Egypt had sent 21 buffalo¹¹ and 23 sheep to the plateau every day to feed the builders, believed to number around 10,000 - or about a tenth of Greek historian Herodotus's estimate of 100,000.

These farmers were exempted¹² from豁免，免除 paying taxes to the government of ancient Egypt - evidence that he said underscored强调 the fact they were participating in a national project.

The first discovery of workers' tombs in 1990 came about accidentally when a horse stumbled on无意中发现，偶然遇到 a brick structure 10 meters (yards) away from the burial area.