Fact Check: Giza Pyramids Were Originally Coated in White Limestone and Capped in Gold?

Claim:

The Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt were originally coated in white limestone and capped with 24-karat gold.

Rating:

Mostly True ( About this rating? )

Context:

Many pyramids were known to have capstones at their peak, also known as pyramidions, which were made of limestone, sandstone, basalt or granite. Some may have been covered with plates of copper, gold or a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver known as electrum.

A Reddit post shared to the platform in 2022 claimed to show "What the pyramids used to look like" when they were initially constructed. The topmost of the two images featured in the post depicts a digital reconstruction of a "white, polished limestone" structure with a "pure gold peak," according to the caption. The bottom image shows the pyramid as it appears in the 21st century.

What the pyramids used to look like. Originally covered with white, polished limestone sides and a pure gold peak.
by u/SnooCupcakes8607 in Damnthatsinteresting

A reverse-image search using Google Lens revealed that the image was originally published on April 16, 2019, by the insurance company Budget Direct. Titled " The 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, reconstructed ," the article described the Great Pyramid of Giza as being:

Built over 4,500 years ago from stones weighing 2.5 to 15 tons each , the Great Pyramid remained the world's tallest man made structure for nearly four thousand years. Nearby excavations have revealed it's likely that up to 100,000 skilled and well-fed workers came from all over the country to live in a temporary city as they built the otherworldly pyramids of this region.

It's unclear why an insurance company reconstructed the seven wonders " in meticulous detail in a series of incredible 3D videos ." What we do know, though, is that the claim is true.

Snopes spoke with John Darnell , an Egyptologist and Near Eastern languages and civilizations professor at Yale University. He confirmed that the Great Pyramid of Giza, also called the Great Pyramid of Khufu — and most pyramids, for that matter — would have originally been constructed with limestone casing stones.

"Much of that layer survives in the upper courses of the pyramid of Khafre (Chephren) at Giza — and freshly cut, it would have been rather brilliantly white, though millennia of pagination have mellowed the color of what survives," wrote Darnell.

The photograph shared on Reddit features the Great Pyramid of Giza, built for as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu about 4,600 years ago. According to the tourism company Pyramids of Giza , the Great Pyramid of Khufu was the first to be built on the Giza Plateau, over a period of about 27 years. It was built with around 2.3 million blocks of stone consisting of roughly 5.5 million tons of limestone and 8,000 tons of granite .

"This mighty stone formed part of an outer layer of fine white limestone that would have made the sides completely smooth. It was polished until it shone so that the pyramid would have gleamed in the sun. The limestone casing blocks came from quarries at Tura 15km [9 miles] downriver from Giza," wrote the National Museums of Scotland

Many of the pyramids at the time were encased in an outer layer of limestone known as casing stones. One casing stone from the Pyramid of Khufu, which weighs more than 650 pounds, is on display at the National Museums of Scotland, featured below.

The above image shows an incomplete, fine white limestone casing stone from the Pyramid of Khufu. (National Museums of Scotland)

However, by the 19th century, most casing stones had been removed and used for other building work, although some can still be seen at the foot of the pyramid.

The above plate shows some casing stones in situ at the base. (Charles Piazzi Smyth/National Museums of Scotland)

As for the golden peak, Darnell told Snopes that it's possible. Many pyramids were known to have capstones at their peak, also known as pyramidions, which were made of limestone, sandstone, basalt or granite. Some may have been covered with plates of copper, gold or a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver known as electrum. There is no longer a pyramidion on the Great Pyramid of Giza and, as such, experts aren't entirely sure what it may have once been made of.

"We have many pyramidions, often of dark-colored stone. Several are inscribed. Gilding in whole or part is possible," said Darnell, adding that few known pyramidions exist today.

The British Museum is home to one pyramidion believed to have been produced in 630 BC. It is made of limestone — not gold — and is decorated in hieroglyphic inscriptions on all four sides, showing the deceased worshipping Osiris, the god of the underworld, and being embalmed by the funerary rights deity, Anubis.

(British Museum)

If you'd like to see parts of ancient Egypt as they appear in the 21st century, you can take a digital tour of the Pyramids of Giza using Google Maps here .

Sources:

Arts, Global, et al. "Pyramid Casing Stone." National Museums Scotland , https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/global-arts-cultures-and-design/ancient-egyptian-and-sudanese-collections/ancient-egyptian-collection/pyramid-casing-stone/ . Accessed 11 June 2024.

"Casing-Stone." National Museums Scotland , https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/collection-search-results/ . Accessed 11 June 2024.

Facebook . https://www.facebook.com/BudgetDirect/posts/the-original-seven-wonders-of-the-world-have-been-reconstructed-in-meticulous-de/2143837739018991/ . Accessed 11 June 2024.

Google Lens . https://lens.google.com/search?ep=cnts&re=df&s=4&p=AbrfA8pKzmcfZ_eYvRsi83VS_HBhcjjeAnhIKFL6RhK0JXHzLh5gcpLNIB7t8skvOIcktBNvSoFyQXnAsjBFS2uOnwBiFmIG67dch5VpOBPiX166FigtBh7u34aKFjgDT1mdjTSk05EpnKZqYr4UqgYhKa2OdE5mTlpl4FuzCEBGiCwAH2aB5HKvmgjt_x3rGrFIlO3cIG2V2S8Nag4mQVNv0nLoRmTF4Gv2v6_m-Q0j9eU0q_G3gwgzb4EWZUxDNMYqiPXZTV_LhQ%3D%3D#lns=W251bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLG51bGwsIkVrY0tKR016WkRnNE1qYzJMVGt6T0dRdE5HWXdNeTA0WXprMUxUUXhaamd6TmpneU5XUTFZaElmWnprNVIwbENhbkoxUVVWaVZVTm1hVWxtYTFwaVJFTk9jbVJsVjBGQ2F3PT0iLG51bGwsbnVsbCxudWxsLDEsbnVsbCxbbnVsbCxudWxsLFswLDAsMTAwMDAwLDEwMDAwMF1dXQ== . Accessed 11 June 2024.

John Coleman Darnell | Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations . https://nelc.yale.edu/people/john-coleman-darnell . Accessed 11 June 2024.

John Darnell | Yale MacMillan Center Council on Middle East Studies . https://cmes.macmillan.yale.edu/people/john-darnell . Accessed 11 June 2024.

Pyramids of Giza | National Geographic . 6 June 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20190606034643/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/archaeology/giza-pyramids/ .

The 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, Reconstructed | Simply Savvy . 3 May 2019, https://web.archive.org/web/20190503165952/https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/blog/the-7-wonders-of-the-ancient-world-reconstructed.html .