'Huge' structure discovered near Snefru's Bent Pyramid in Egypt may be an ancient harbour
Archaeologists have discovered a large structure – to the northeast of the 4,600 year old Bent Pyramid – which may be the remains of an ancient harbour. It connects to one of the pyramid’s temples by way of a 140 meter long causeway.
The discoveries were made by a team from the Cairo department of the German Archaeological Institute, and the Free University of Berlin. The team used magnetic survey and drill cores soundings to make the finds. The structure is mostly unexcavated and only a portion of the causeway has been unearthed.
The structure itself is U-shaped, 90 meters by 145 meters. It was built with mud brick and has no wall on its east side. “Maybe this structure can be interpreted as (a) harbour or something like that,” said Dr. Nicole Alexanian of the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo. She said that it may have been beside water, “it’s possible that ships could enter by a canal in this area.”
Harbours are known from later Egyptian pyramids and may have served as a receiving point for the body of the pharaoh. It is unlikely, however, that the newly discovered structure was used for the burial of the Bent Pyramid’s creator – the pharaoh Snefru. It is widely believed by Egyptologists that his final resting place was the Red Pyramid, located two kilometres to the north of the Bent Pyramid.
Snefru was the first ruler of the fourth dynasty and constructed two pyramids at Dahshur (the Bent and Red Pyramids), one at Meidum, and one at Seila. These were the first “true” pyramids – those with smooth sides. After he died, his son Khufu inherited the throne and began construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza.
A 140 meter roofed causeway
The causeway runs due east of the temple and has a vaulted roof. This appears to be the earliest known instance in which a roofed causeway was used in an Egyptian pyramid complex.
“The walls - they built them to a really astonishing height, almost three meters,” said Dr. Alexanian. “It was like a tunnel - astonishingly it’s also very steep.”
The interior of the causeway contained a passageway more than 2.5 meters wide. Its walls were lined with undecorated white and yellow plaster which appears to have been maintained for a long time.
“Four phases of the plastering could be distinguished which attest that it was renewed several times,” said the team in a recent report. “From (the) state of weathering of the different plaster layers it can be inferred that the causeway was used for a substantial period of time i.e. at least 40 years.”
Building the Bent Pyramid
Archaeologists are not certain why Snefru went to the trouble of building four pyramids in Egypt. The Bent pyramid, as its name suggests, has an odd angle – with a slope that looks like it was changed part way through construction. It has been suggested that this was an error made by workers trying to grasp new construction techniques.
However research done by the German team suggests that the geology of the plateau played a role in the pyramid’s odd shape.
“The ground had to be stable – this was a problem with the Bent Pyramid,” said Dr. Alexanian. “The ground where the Bent Pyramid is built on, it’s not always stone, there was some taffla. It’s something like muddy structures in the ground.”
This affected construction. “Therefore they got problems doing the ground, therefore they altered the angle of the pyramid.”
Flattening the plateau
There is also evidence that the pyramid builders altered the plateau to make it flatter – quarrying material from the east. The team writes in a conference abstract that the topography of the pyramid plateau – “can be hardly explained taking into account only fluvial processes or processes like gully erosion or soil erosion.”
Therefore, “for the area of the pyramid plateau a direct anthropogenic relief forming influence has to be considered.” In other words – humans altered the shape of the plateau.
Alexanian said that flattening the plateau would “make the view from the cultivated area even more dramatic.” People would have seen a flat, sharply edged, plateau, with a pyramid built on top and possibly a canal leading up to it.
A sight that would make someone living 4,600 years ago gasp in awe.
Read 41 comments, or leave your own
Latest
Get Real About Advertising Fakes ASA Tells Semmel Concerts King Tut Tour- Unique Iron Age Hoard goes on display at Ipswich Museum
- Missing the revolution but making the party!
- Royal Artefacts - Including King Tut's Golden Trumpet - Returned to Egyptian Museum Cairo
SCA releases full list of treasures missing from the Cairo Museum- Petrie Museum celebrates the extraordinary life of Amelia Edwards
- New Face for 5,300-year-old Otzi the Iceman
- New Clues to Welsh Origins of Stonehenge Bluestones
- Read latest articles, blogs & reviews
Most Popular
- The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project: Virtual Excavation & Digital Recreation
- Weddings, Sex, Theatre, Contraception... 10 Best Uses for a Stone Circle
- Lonely Planet Travel Awards: What's the Best Journey in the World?
- BBC Two's upcoming history specials: Ancient Worlds, Pompeii, Britain & the Bible's Buried Secrets
History Library
HK Editor's Picks
latest hkvideos
videosLatest Comments
hello this is a real interesting article on forgeries
excellent article !
Museum looks really great.
ediscovery
There are really lots of secrets in Egypt. I'm sure this is going to cost millions in auction.
e-discovery tools to help your business grow efficiently.
That's one scary mummy. Thanks for letting us know this. I find it really informational.
e-discovery tools to help your business grow effiiently.
Focus on
King Tut –
Stonehenge
Terracotta Warriors
Pyramids –
Archaeology
Britain –
China –
Egypt
Greece –
Rome
Heritage Key Words
ancient london, british museum, roman, art, zahi hawass, london, ancient egypt, religion, burial, valley of the kings
Next major 'ancient' exhibition in London:
Journey Through the Afterlife: The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead
at the British Museum
November 2010 - March 2011
(learn more)
Comments
This seems strange as the weathering onf the plaster on the roofed causeway point to 40 years of use, couple this with the number of pyramid's constructed at the same time and the chronology seems suspect for this period. What ritual or cerimonial use was the causway being utilzed for on the order of 40 years? Comments and answers are most welcome!
Thanks J HA, you raise a good point - this structure does seem to have been maintained for sometime after Snefru died. According to Mark Lehner's book The Complete Pyramids - Snefru was a popular pharaoh and had his own cult after his death. The focus of their activity was in the temple which the causeway connects to. Perhaps these cult members maintained the causeway for a time?
Very interesting write up.I have recently been in the Great Pyramid.Places no ever goes.I am going back to Djedefres pyramid this winter. .What i found will blow your mind. I have been a builder and developer for over 30 years.It will be great if we can get in touch. Thanks Zeek
I wouldn't mind seeing a 3D reconstruction of the view you describe there! (or going there on holiday)
Definately! A 3D reconstruction would be lots of fun. The Bent Pyramid, as I understand, is open for tourists - although i doubt they would let you go into the newly excavated area.
I have my doubts that this is a harbor given that it has a roofed causeway and that it is made of mud brick, although it could be a causeway leading up to a yet to be discovered harbor. Mud brick and water don't play well together especially since Egyptian mud brick was not fired until the Roman period. I would surmise that this is more likely part of a funerary temple with a storage facility, similar to what is found at Giza or the Ramesside storage cities. Such storage facilities were necessary for ritual offerings made to feed the king in the afterlife.
The cult of the king was normally endowed during the life of the king so that food offerings could be made after the death of the king. It was typical for mortuary temples to be in use decades after the death of the king. The belief was that the departed soul ("ba") required the living to continue to feed it when the spirit of the departed returned to inhabit the votive statuary. As such, kings often left large endowments to continue the practice of food offerings so that the king would not starve in the afterlife. These endowments would often perpetuate temple cult practice decades and sometime for centuries after the death of the king. However, when the endowment eventually dried up, the funerary temples were abandoned.
Why is the bent pyramid so far from the site? Are you sure the causeway did not connect to the red pyramid? The bent has gotta be more than 500 feet away according to the photo.
Is the causeway connected to the valley temple, which was 2,300 feet from the bent pyramid? That would answer a lot of questions for me if that is true.
Hi Aegis, thanks for your questions, the causeway connects the U-shape structure to the temple (archaeologists tend to avoid call this structure a "valley" temple) the temple is connected to the pyramid by another causeway - an open air one.
It is obvious to anyone without a political/religious bias that some of the buildings in Egypt are older than 5000 BC. The Sphinx shows water damage and the head is too small on the body of a lion. Most probable scenario is that the Sphinx had a lions head and faced the constellation Leo(we are now in the constellation Pisces) at the time it was built at least 10,000 BC before a great deluge changed the landscape. Some of the deeper buried blocks and flooded caves tell of an earlier Egypt made by different builders using bigger blocks with more advanced joining techniques( blocks carved with right angles in them).
<p>It is amazing what discoveries are being made.</p>
<p>On my next visit to Egypt, will try to visit Bent pyramid and see the ancient waterway.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thanks very good <a href="http://www.ya7by.com/" title="شات الحب">شات الحب</a></p>
<p>Thanks very good <a href="http://www.ya7by.com/" title="شات الحب">شات الحب</a> dddd</p>
May be it is right that It is obvious to anyone without a political/religious bias that some of the buildings in Egypt are older than 5000 BC.
Mud brick and water don't play well together especially since Egyptian mud brick was not fired until the Roman period. I would surmise that this is more likely part of a funerary temple with a storage facility, similar to what is found at Giza or the Ramesside storage cities. Such storage facilities were necessary for ritual offerings made to feed the king in the afterlife.
<p>I totally agree with you, this is by far the most beautiful place I have ever been to!</p>
<p><a href="http://phonyphonecalls.blogspot.com/">reverse phone lookup</a></p>
<p>The harbor is far from the pyramid because the Nile was far from the pyramid. The question is why was the pyramid was built so far into the desert, and the reason is because of the clay-like limestone found in that region. The pyramid had to be built on a <em>plateau</em> that had a solid foundation, and the only good choice for the placement was the one that was chosen. </p>
excellent job,well done!
Good. Very informative even if I have now worked out that my http://www.arabaoyunlarimiz.gen.tr
Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!…
<p>Very well written. You got every point explained. Loved the whole article! Many thanks! </p>
<p>This is a wonderful content. I will bookmark this site and visit again. It is very informative. Thanks for sharing.</p>
thaks for great posting bro... excellent
<p>thank for great info bro.. keep update content. im very happy if you visit my site <a href="http://filiarvitamedia.com">neon box</a> | <a href="http://filiarvitamedia.com">huruf timbul</a> | <a href="http://jasaseo.jullysell.com">jasa seo murah</a></p>
The question is why was the pyramid was built so far into the desert, and the reason is because of the clay-like limestone found in that region. The pyramid had to be built on a <em>plateau</em> that had a solid foundation, and the only good choice for the placement was the one that was chosen. </p>
<p>After reading the article, I feel that I need more information on the topic. Can you suggest some resources please?, Excellent post!<br />
</p>
<p>You got every point explained. Loved the whole article! Many thanks for this. </p>
I appreciate the project that you have been achieved on the time.I think this idea is better for the future also.
frisør vadsø
<p> Mud brick and water don't play well together especially since Egyptian mud brick was not fired until the Roman period. </p>
<p>It is very informative. Loved the whole article! Thanks for sharing. </p>
Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.
i saw something like that in the discovery channel,, could that be the same one ?
<p>I was very pleased to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out the new stuff you post.</p>
<p><br />
Very happy to see your article, I very much to like and agree with your point of view.</p>
<p>Just stumbled upon your blog and found such a nice information.. I appreciate your hard work.. Keep up the good work..</p>
<p><a href="http://scrabbleicious.com">scrabble word finder cheat</a></p>
<p>Nice post.. I very much agree with your point of view.. Thanks for sharing.. </p>
<p> It is very informative. Loved the whole article! Thanks for sharing.</p>
<p>Hey, I had been searching on this topic for a long while but I was not able to find great resources like that. Now I feel very confidence by your tips about that, I think you have choosen a great way to write some info on this topic. Regards, <a href="http://www.bellspharmacy.com">www.bellspharmacy.com</a></p>
<p>Excellent post. I want to thank you for this informative read. Keep up your great work.</p>
<p>This is a wonderful content. I will bookmark this site and visit again. It is very informative. Thanks for sharing.</p>