Start the story

The object in the published account

In 1840, Richard William Howard Vyse published an account of work carried out at Giza in 1837. He described a decorated stone chest in a lower chamber of the monument commonly called Menkaure’s pyramid. He called it a “sarcophagus” and reported it as empty.

Removal and shipment

Vyse describes hauling the chest through the passages, moving it with levers when the trucks failed, and casing it in timber for the British Museum. He said he intended to prevent its destruction if it remained in the pyramid.

His account reports shipment at Alexandria in autumn 1838. The ship is identified as Beatrice in the later documentary research discussed by Nielsen; Vyse’s shipment footnote itself says only “a merchant-ship”.

The reported disappearance

The expected delivery did not arrive. Vyse wrote that the vessel was presumed lost off Cartagena, citing the absence of further news and reported wreckage. He supplied no eyewitness account of a sinking.

Reports of departure from Livorno and Malta remain unresolved. The exact wreck position, depth and present condition of the chest have not been established in the evidence examined here.

A small stone fragment in London

The British Museum catalogues a small piece as a fragment from the chest’s top edge: EA6646. The object page provides six official photographs, original dimensions and the historical find-context drawings.

A different object, the wooden coffin EA6647, came from a separate find context. Its photograph should not be mistaken for the lost stone chest.

Names and evidence

“Menkaure’s sarcophagus” is the conventional name. Vyse’s terminology and the reported empty condition do not establish an original occupant or use. Historical statements in the chapters link to the relevant pages and inspection notes.

Choose your next step

Sources for this introduction

Vyse’s 1840 account and illustrations; Nielsen’s 2024 archival study; the British Museum records. The full chapters distinguish examined sources from original records known through later publications.