Scientists discover surprising skeletons hidden in the Egyptian pyramids - and they could reshape the entire story of the iconic structures

Scientists have discovered intriguing skeletons hidden in an Egyptian pyramid. 

Being laid to rest in an Egyptian pyramid is traditionally assumed to have been an honour reserved for the wealthy nobility. 

But the skeletons discovered at Tombos had signs of strenuous physical activity. 

This suggests they did not live the life of a rich and privileged royal. 

Instead, they were 'low-status' workers who lived 'physically demanding' lives, but were also laid to rest in pyramids along with the nobility. 

'Pyramid tombs, once thought to be the final resting place of the most elite, may have also included low-status high-labor staff,' the experts say. 

'Across cemetery areas and tomb types, [our analysis] suggests a complex landscape of physically active and less-physically active people.' 

According to the experts, the discovery could reshape the entire story of the Egyptian Pyramids. 

Tombos is an archaeological site located near the famous Nile River in modern-day Sudan, which shares a border with Egypt. 

It became an important colonial hub after the Egyptian conquer of Nubia – the region along the Nile – around 1500 BC. 

It's thought the population of Tombos was composed of minor officials, professionals, craftspeople and scribes – people who could read and write documents. 

Ruined remains of at least five mud-brick pyramids have been found at Tombos, some containing human remains along with pottery such as large jars and vases. 

The largest pyramid complex belonged to Siamun, the sixth pharaoh of Egypt during the 21st Dynasty (lasting from 1077 BC to 943 BC). 

This pyramid included a large chapel courtyard and was decorated with funerary cones – small cones made from clay used as decoration or symbolic offerings. 

Sarah Schrader, an archeologist at Leiden University, analysed subtle marks on bones where muscles, tendons and ligaments were once attached, New Scientist reports. 

Curiously, some of the skeletons belonged to people who had done little physical activity, while others had been far more active through their lives. 

So the low-activity individuals were nobles who lived in luxury, while the active individuals were hard-working non-elites, they concluded. 

According to the experts, wealthy Egyptian elites had strictly different activity patterns from non-elites that make it easier to discern the two from their skeletal remains. 

Perhaps it was thought that by laying to rest workers with their masters, the former would continue to serve the latter in the afterlife.  

They also rule out a 'sinister' explanation of human sacrifice – on the basis that by the time Tombos was under Egyptian control 'there’s really no evidence for it'. 

The team say their study, published in Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, challenges a 'long-standing assumption in the field of Egyptology'. 

'If these hard-working individuals are indeed of lower socioeconomic status, this counters the traditional narrative that the elite were exclusively buried in monumental tombs,' they conclude. 

'We are not suggesting that these tombs were designed, built, and funded by these high-labor individuals.

'Rather, we argue that people of high socioeconomic status and with formal titles, such as Siamun, commissioned these pyramids for themselves, close family members, and servants/functionaries.' 

'With continued excavations, dating, and biomolecular analysis, interpretations of lived experience in the past can be completely altered,' they conclude. 

Although pyramids are synonymous with Egypt, around 80 pyramids were built within the Kingdom of Kush, now located in the modern country of Sudan. 

Of those located in modern Egypt, most were built as tombs for the country's pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. 

However, the most famous are in Egypt, including the spectacular Pyramid of Gaza and the 'step pyramid' of Djoser. 

While Giza is the largest of Egypt's pyramids, Djoser is the oldest, having been constructed at some point between 2667 and 2648 BC.