I'm afraid you've fallen victim of fringe writers, you must know by now that they don't actually tell the truth don't you?
There has never been a single tomb of an Old Kingdom pharaoh discovered with a body still in the alleged tomb. As such, this would make for a very lousy means of entombment, if the bodies kept disappearing or being ripped off.
The problem with above ground pyramids is they are large sign saying, "loot me"...and people did. Even when then moved to below ground sites, they were still looted, even old Tut lost a few items although the main chambers remained undetected.
When discussing a culture the three main things to keep in mind are, context, context and if you forget the first the third will remind yuou context.
The Egyptians were very concerned with death and survival of the body, they built the pyramids to support that idea and to give an indication of the power of ruler on earth-and the hereafter. The fact that the pyramids were built during the time of AE (speaking just of AE pyramids) and they built large necropolis and temples to support their pharoah around the pyramids and the workers seemed to think they were building the pyramids. One can suppose they did built the pyramids for the reasons that were important to them.
Bits and pieces have been found in Sneferu's pyramid. I'm overseas at the moment so I don't have my easy to access -pyramids as tombs evidence sheet, but body parts have been found, along with sarcophagus but in general as the mummy contained valuables the looters tended to burn them.
As Bryd noted, pyramids don't have any other useful purpose other than as tombs (for the Egyptians) and as tombs and temples for Aztecs and Maya
THE GREAT TOMB ROBBERIES OF THE TWENTIETH EGYPTIAN DYNASTY, T. ERIC PEET, p. 48, this a document from the 20th dynasty about the robbers who were caught robbing......a pyramid
(We) found the burial-place of the royal wife Nubkhaas
his royal wife in the place. . . its (2) side.3 It was protected and . . . .ed
with plaster and covered with. . .4 We forced it open 5 also and we found her
(3) lying there likewise. We opened their outer coffins and their inner
coffins in which they lay. We found this (4) noble mummy of this king
equipped like a warrior (?).6 A large number of sacred-eye amulets and
ornaments of gold was at his neck, (5) and his headpiece7 of gold was on
him. The noble mummy of this king was all covered with gold, and his
inner coffins (6) were bedizenedg with gold and silver inside and outside
with inlays9 of all kinds of precious stones. We appropriated10 the gold
(7) which we found on this noble mummy of this god and on" his eye
amulets and his ornaments which were at his neck and on the inner coffins
in which he lay. (8) (We) found the royal wife just (?) likewise 12
and we appropriated all that we found on her too. We set fire to their
inner (g) coffins. We stole their outfit which we found with them, consisting
of objects of gold, silver, and bronze, and divided (10) them up
among ourselves. We made this gold which we found on these two gods
and on their mummies, their eye amulets and ornaments and their inner
coffins into eight (parts).
(I) The stone-cutter '4 Hapiro, son of . . .I5 of the temple of Amenrcr
King of the Gods, in charge of this chief priest of Amiin.
(2) The carpenter Irenamiin belonging to the overseer of hunters Nesamiin
of the temple of Amenrer King of the Gods.
(3) The field-labourer Amenemhab of the temple of AmenGpe, who is
employed in the Island of Amen6pe 16 in charge of this chief priest
of Amiin.
(4) The water-bearer Kaemwese of the chapel of King Menkheperurer, in
charge of (sic, ends)
(5) Ahautinufer son of Nekhemmut, who was in the hands of the Nubian
slave Thelamiin belonging to the chief priest of Amiin.
' (6) Total of men who were in the pyramid-tomb of this god, eight. They were examined by beating with the stick, and their feet and hands were twisted.17 (7) They told the same story. The prefect of N6 and vizier
Khaemwese and the royal butler Nesamiin scribe of Pharaoh caused the
thieves to be taken before them (8) to the West of N6 in Year 16, third
month of the inundation season day 19. The thieves pointed out this
pyramid-tomb of this god in which they had violated chambers.18 (9)
Their trial and their doom were set down in writing and a dispatch was sent
to Pharaoh concerning.
Now in the following image - go to line six and eight - see the pyramid with a wall around it.....that is the symbol for pyramid-tomb......
So....the big buildings with the mortuary temples, sarcophagi, and tombs of their family members surrounding them will have to suffice.
...and of course, the pyramid of princess Neferuptah, daughter of Amenemhet III, found in 1955 and opened in 1956. The sarcophagus was 9 feet long, and when opened was almost entirely full of water. After the water was siphoned off There were bits of jewelry, but the body had almost totally dissolved in the water, chemical analysis showed it contained the chemical signature of a human body.
One long thread on this subject at the Hall of Ma'at
Hall of Ma'at the pyramids as tombs question
[edited to add a link]
[edit on 11/12/08 by Hanslune]
