Don Barone Wrote:
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> But all well and good but I thought all passages
> were sealed as well. So how did they get in and
> out and ah yes ... the lid. How did they get the
> lid out.
> Where is the lid ? and how was it removed ?

Hello Don,

Some suggest that the Descending Passage was filled in its entire length (about 345 feet)with blocks of limestone or granite, and so, too, was the Ascending Passage.
There is no clear evidence that this was the case.
However, Petrie records a fragment of granite embedded (?) in the floor of the Ascending Passage a short distance south of the upper end of the three granite blocks, and suggests that it is evidence that this Passage once contained more sealing blocks than the three we know of.
This opinion is not shared by all.

It has been suggested that a massive block of stone was either placed across the Great Step or wedged into the opening to the passage leading to the Antechamber and the King's Chamber.
Again there is no evidence to support this idea.

Despite what many say there is no clear evidence that the Antechamber was actually deployed as a portcullis system (there are several things wrong with the idea that this room was even intended to be a functional portcullis system).
Now, before anybody comes back with: ah, but what about the fragments of granite portcullis blocks found in different parts of the Pyramid?
Just check where they are and then explain how they got there - btw, the fragment now resting in the Grotto was actually firmly lodged - thus preventing all access in either direction - in the Shaft above the Grotto until recent times (1800s).

I contend that nobody reached the Pyramid's upper chambers until after the tunnel was excavated in the north face (note the Arab accounts make no mention of the Well Shaft) because the 'Well Shaft was effectively blocked solid with debris and blocks of stone - not by the passing of time and natural deterioration but by the Pyramid's builders.
Why did they block it?
Because it was no longer required to act as what it was specifically designed for, i.e. a ventilation shaft for the workers in the Subterranean section of the Pyramid.

As for the 'missing' coffer lid, there is no evidence that the coffer ever had one.
Unlike other coffers in other pyramids of the 4th Dyn and later, this one is unevenly cut and very poorly finished (except, intriguingly, the outside east face).
It's as though the coffer was prepared in a rush or - as I think is the more likely - never intended to be used for the king's burial, and there fore not required to have the cut and finish of a coffer fit for a king.

Regards,

MJ