Tag: Snefru

‘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 pyramids 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, its 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 Pyramids 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.

Click the imagesto seea larger version.

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 its 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 pyramids 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, its not always stone, there was some taffla. Its 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 ina 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 theshape 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.

The million mummy question: Why are there a million mummies buried near Snefu’s Seila pyramid?

Nearly 4,600 years ago a third dynasty pharaoh named Snefru launched one of the greatest construction projects in human history.

He decided, for reasons that are unknown to us, to build four pyramids scattered at different places across Egypt. He constructed two of them at Dashur (the Red and Bent pyramids), one at Meidum and another at a place called Seila. Together they used up more material than Khufus pyramid at Giza.

Casing stones were used to give them a smooth appearance in other words make them into true pyramids.” This was the first time in Egyptian history that this was done.

Today a team from Brigham Young University, in Utah, is investigating these pyramids, trying to figure out why Snefru would build four of them in the way he did.

One of the puzzles the team is trying to decipher involves a cemetery not far from the Seila Pyramid. Its a 40 minute hike away and research indicates that it has an enormous number of mummies. We estimate over a million bodies in this cemetery, said Professor Kerry Muhlestein in an interview with Heritage Key. Its very very densely populated by mummies.

Only a small percentage of them have been unearthed. Weve been digging there for 30 years and we could dig there for a hundred more and still have only done a small percentage, said Muhlestein.

Results indicate that the cemetery was not in use during Snefrus time. In fact the earliest burials appear to be from the Middle Kingdom at least 600 years after the Seila pyramid was constructed. Furthermore most of the burials are even later than that.

For the most part the cemetery is Graeco-Roman period, from the Ptolemaic era down to the end of the Byzantine era, said Muhlestein. This period started when Alexander the Great entered Egypt in 332 BC.

So the question is why did so many people who lived long after Snefrus reign choose to be buried so close to the Seila Pyramid?

A sacred place

Making this question more enticing is that this wasnt just a local cemetery. People seem to have come some distance to be interned here.

Its such a huge cemetery its hard to account for where all these people would have lived the population centres around there dont seem to substantiate that many burials, said Professor Muhlestein.

Maybe these are people coming from a variety of communities, all around, being buried in this place. Were not sure what would account for such a large number of burials.

Could there be a connection to the pyramid? Despite the fact that it was built thousands of years before most of these people were buried? Muhlestein believes that its a real possibility but one hard to prove unless textual evidence is found. It probably is at least partially responsible for why theres a cemetery there, said Muhlestein.

It seems very reasonable to suppose that the pyramid designated that as a sacred place, he said. Once that place is a sacred place it typically will remain a sacred place.

A family of mummies

In early 2010 the Brigham Young team continued their work. The university has a program that lets students learn field techniques while excavating at the site.

Its an interesting, and indeed fairly rare, opportunity for students. You wont find too many field-schools, who accept undergraduates, operating in Egypt. Muhlestein said that they have had an excellent experience with this program and the most recent dig turned up, what appears to be, a family who lived at some point during the early/mid 1st millennium AD, when Christianity was widespread in Egypt.

They found an adult male and female buried close together with an infant at their feet and a toddler on their chest. We think this might be a family but well have to do some DNA analysis to know for sure, said Muhlestein.

Each of them was buried with their head facing to the east, this is probably indicative of the advent of Christianity, said Muhlestein.

The family does not appear to have been very wealthy. They were mummified, but without all the chemical treatments seen in wealthier burials. A poor mans version of mummification, is how Muhlestein described it.

The only grave goods the team found were palm branches. The mummies were covered with a layer of wrapping, which had ribbons on it, that had badly deteriorated.

Exclusive: New Discoveries at Snefru’s Pyramid at Seila

The three day Egypt symposium, last weekend in Toronto, yielded a number of interesting finds. As Heritage Key has reported, researchers unravelled evidence showing that the husband of Djedmaatesankh, a mummy in the Royal Ontario museum, is now located in Chicago.

Also, a large amount of info was presented on the discovery of an Amarna era fortress at Tell el-Borg. A detailed article on this can be seen here.

Another key piece of research, released at the symposium,is an excavation project at the Seila pyramid.

Professor Kerry Muhlestein, of Brigham Young University, delivered an update last weekend on research going on there. He is Assistant Director of the universitys excavation projects in Egypt.

Background on the Pyramid

A Brigham Young team excavated the pyramid in the 1980s and 1990s. Much of their work has yet to be published. Professor Muhlestein said that they are working on getting all of it into publication as soon as possible. (Note – it is not unusual, in archaeology, for full publication of results to take many years).

Muhlestein also told the audience that the university sent a team of engineers out to the Seila Pyramid last year. The engineers, using sophisticated GPS equipment, created a map of the pyramid and and a digital reconstruction. They also analyzed the sites topography.

The pyramid was built by Snefru, the father of Khufuand first king of the Fourth Dynasty. Snefru built two pyramids at Dashur the Red and the Bent Pyramid. He also built a pyramid at Meidum (although some think that his predecessor, Huni, started it). Snefru was the first pharaoh to construct true pyramids rather than step-pyramids.

The pyramid he builtat Seila islocated six mileswest of the Meidum pyramid. Its smaller than the other three pyramids and appears rather isolated. It was built on a 52 degree angle, almost identical to that of Meidum, and has a causeway that goes nowhere (theres no building at the end of it).

Four Interesting Findings

Im going to break down the key finds mentioned in the presentation:

First find: Seila is a true pyramid. The team has found solid evidence of this.

We actually found smooth placement stones and good evidence this was a true pyramid with smooth casing that we see on Sneferus other pyramids, said Muhlestein.

The reconstruction reflects this, showing a true pyramid. This discovery means that all four of the pyramids that Snefru built were true pyramids.

The reconstruction wasnt releasedto the media but was shown up on the screen. The teamdid release one great treat. The engineers created a laser-cut model of the pyramid, as it exists today. The accuracy is to within one millimetre. A high-resolution image of this model has been released to Heritage Key and is pictured here.

Second find: It is possible that this pyramid had internal architecture and a burial chamber.

If you take a look at the centre of this model you will see that themiddle partof the pyramid is missing. Thats because somebody took it away, looting it, either in antiquity or more recently.

Presumably somebody was looking for the burial chamber, Muhlestein said adding that, well never know if there was a burial chamber there or not.

So it may have had internal architecture butresearchers cannot say for sure.

Third find: The pyramid has a portico on the east side that appears to have been used for ritualistic purposes.

The portico itself is made up of stone and brick pavement. A libation altar and statue were found. There are no walls. This appears to have been an open area. There are holes in the portico that may have been used to hold pots on the ground.

It was certainly a site of cultic activity, said Muhlestein.

The team found two stele there one inscribed and one not inscribed. A picture of the inscribed stele, which was about a metre long, has been released to Heritage Key along with its translation. The inscribedstele bears Snefrus name and says:

Lord of Upper and Lower Egypt, he who is beautiful.

Professor Muhlestein compared this stele toa stelefound at the Bent pyramid:

Snefru was the first phraraoh to write his name in a cartouche, he said. The Bent Pyramid stele, with all the names of the pharaoh written inside the serekh (palace faade) was different than is usually done.

He went on to suggest that, “This may be evidence of Snefru figuring out how he would write the royal names as he introduces new elements, such as the cartouche. The Seila stele demonstrates the way these two names would be done from then on, setting a standard.

Muhlestein concludes, this may indicate that the Seila stele is later than the Bent Pyramid stele, but we cant know for sure.

Fourth find: The pyramid is a little larger than we think.

Its often quoted on the internetthat the remainsare seven meters high, but this isn’t the case. Muhlestein said, It’s larger than it appears now because it goes down (into the sand) quite a ways.

I asked him afterwards if it approaches the size of Snefrus other pyramids and he said no, this is still a small pyramid. For exact measurements we will have to wait a bit as the team is not yet ready to release them.

Parallels With Snefrus Other Pyramids

Now that we have an idea as to what all four of Snefru’s pyramids are like, Muhlestein is able to offer a comparison. He found some interesting parallels between the pyramids. These include:

Both Seila and Meidum were built at almost the exact same angle. Meidum is 51 degree, Seila is 52. On the other hand both the Bent and the Red Pyramids have an angle of 43 degrees.
Both Seila and Meidum have causeways that lead nowhere there is no building at the end of them. The Red and Bent pyramids have causeways that lead to buildings.
The Bent pyramid and the Red Pyramid have Valley Temples. Meidum and Seila have no evidence of any Valley Temples.
Meidum and the Red Pyramid have mortuary temples. The Seila and Bent the pyramid do not.
Statues were found at Seila and the Red Pyramid, none were found at the Red Pyramid and Meidum.
Meidum has two blank stele, Seila has one blank and one inscribed stele, the Bent Pyramid has two inscribed stele and the Red Pyramid has no stele. Almost every combination imaginable happens here”, Muhlestein commented, “I wonder if something (is) going on with that.
All four pyramids appear to have altars.

What Does This Mean?

As more information is released researchers should get a better picture of how Seila compares to the otherthree pyramids.

While two of Snefrus names mean Lord of Order, it is hard to see what the order is

The teams plan is to expand on the Seila research, using their engineering techniques to get exact measurements for the Meidum Pyramid, the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid. They are also going to review excavation reports and the literature that has been written about these three pyramids.

Muhlestein concluded that While two of Snefrus names mean Lord of Order, it is hard to see what the order is.”

None of the pyramids have the same decoration scheme, and each has something in common with only one of the others, seemingly setting up individual connections between each pyramid. This suggests that either in the midst of all his innovations, Snefru was introducing things almost willy nilly, or that all of them were designed to work together in some manner. If it is the latter, we have yet to determine how they were designed to function as a whole.