Since the earliest times, there have been fantastic rumours about the glittering treasures buried with the dead pharaohs. The Middle Kingdom kings created extra passages and false shafts to try and fool robbers. Despite all these efforts, every known pyramid had been looted by 1000 B.C.

The Pyramid Texts
On the inner walls of King Unas’s pyramid are the earliest known religious hieroglyphs. These are the Pyramid Texts. Once brightly coloured, these magical spells, prayers, and hymns are about the rebirth of the king and his reunion with the gods in the afterlife. They date from about 2340 B.C., which makes them the oldest known religious writings. Later versions of the texts were painted on Middle Kingdom conffins, and on New Kingdom papyruses, in the famous Book of the Dead.
The dead person’s family was often pictured on the walls of the tomb. These two young women holding ointment jars are the daughters of Sennedjsui, a treasurer to the king around 2150 B.C. He ran an estate where food for offerings was grown. His titles included "Sole Friend of the King".
	Scribes at the pyramid temple of Neferirkara kept a detailed record of all offerings. These fragments are among the earliest known writings on papyrus. They list daily deliveries of food, including joints of meat, bread, and beer.

  When Waynman Dixon discovered the mysterious "ventilation shafts" of the Queen’s Chamber in the Great Pyramid he also found two small tools. They are a granite pounder and a metal hook. They may have been left there by workmen. No other tools used on the Giza pyramids have survived.

 Some pyramids and pharaohs have only been discovered in the last few years. This gold shell comes from the so-called "Lost Pyramid" of Saqqara, which lay hidden under the desert sands until 1951. This unfinished tomb was built by Sekhemkhet, a pharaoh who was almost unknown until his name was found in the ruins.