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Ancient Egypt Pyramids > Dahshur

Pyramids of Dahshur

Located to the Southwest of Memphis at some 10 kilometres to the South of Saqqara and some 40 kilometres North of Meidum, Dashur is the most southern site of the Memphis necropolis, which stretches to Abu Rawash in the North.

The two pyramids built there by Sneferu, the founder of the 4th Dynasty as well as the mountain-like remains of the pyramid of Amenemhat III can easily be seen from Saqqara to the North and Meidum to the South, or even from Egypt's modern-day capital Cairo, which lies some 50 kilometres to the North.

Dahshur owes its modern-day name to the nearby villages Dahshur and Minsat Dashur. This name may perhaps come from the Coptic name Tahsur, or Takuris in Greek. The Ancient Egyptian name for this area may well be mentioned in the story of Sinuhe: wnt snfrw but it is not unlikely that the site may have had different names in antiquity as tt was not uncommon to refer to an area by the name of one or more of its principal buildings.

This southernmost part of the Memphis necropolis stretches an area of approximately 3 to 3.5 kilometres from South to North and 2 to 2.5 kilometres East to West.

It starts at about 1.5 kilometres to the West of the fertile ground, although in the time the area was used as a necropolis, this may well have been different.

The history of this site is a somewhat shorter than the history of its northern neighbour, Saqqara. Archaeological research has revealed no traces of activity in this area before Sneferu, which may mean that Sneferu chose this area, among others, because it had not been used before. A similar motivation may have driven him to found the royal necropolis at Meidum, some 15 years earlier. It is, however, not known why he abandoned Meidum to favour a new virgin site. Some have speculated that Sneferu wanted to be closer to the Nile Delta, but if that really were the case, one could wonder why he did not move to an even more northern site such as Giza or Abusir.

Perhaps the explanation might be found in the fact that at Dahshur Sneferu did not build a Step Pyramid, as he had done in Meidum, but a true pyramid. The shift from Step Pyramid to true pyramid represents a shift in ideology, turning from a royal tomb that represented a staircase to the stars to a monument that was both a solar symbol and a reference to the primeval mound from which all life had supposedly sprung.

The first pyramid was built in the Southwestern corner of the Dahshur area, to the Northwest of a like and at quite some distance into the desert. This pyramid was started at an angle of 54°27'44", but about halfway, the angle was changed to 43°22'. This bend in the sides of the pyramid has given it its modern-day name: the Bent Pyramid.

Perhaps because the change of angle did not conform to the new ideology, Sneferu started a second pyramid, at some distance to the North of the Bent Pyramid. This new pyramid is often called the Red Pyramid because of its reddish appearance. The West side of the Bent Pyramid roughly aligns with the East side of the Red Pyramid. The angle of the Red Pyramid is the same as the top part of the Bent Pyramid: 43°22'.

The small pyramid to the Northeast of the Red Pyramid was never completed. Archaeological research has shown it to date to the 4th Dynasty as well, but it is not clear for whom it was built.

At about the same time, several private tombs were constructed to the east of the two pyramids. One of Sneferu's sons, a man named Kanefer, was buried in one of the tombs closest to the Red Pyramid.

The first notable building activity in the area after Sneferu is dated to the reign of Amenemhat II of the 12th Dynasty, who chose to build his pyramid near the cluster of Old Kingdom tombs where Kanefer was buried. His example would be followed by Senusret III, who moved slightly to the North, and Amenemhat III, more to the South.

The Middle Kingdom pyramids at Dahshur were built closer to the edge of fertile land. Amenemhat III abandoned his pyramid, probably because it was being built on unstable desert sand.

At least the Northern part of Dahshur continued to be used as a necropolis for private burials during the New Kingdom. More research and archaeological fieldwork are needed to reveal the full history of the southernmost part of the Memphis necropolis.

After the Middle Kingdom, Dahshur seems to have lost its appeal as a royal necropolis. Amenemhat III's pyramid was the last royal funerary monument that was built there. Recent archaeological research, however, has revealed a private necropolis dated to the New Kingdom at North Dahshur.

Pyramid of Amenemhat II (White Pyramid) at Dahshur

For some reason, Amenemhat II, the third King of Egypt's 12th Dynasty and Senusret I's successor, choose to build his pyramid at Dahshur, a lonely pyramid field that dates from the 4th Dynasty, rather then at Lisht where his two predecessors built theirs. Dahshur is an interesting field to explore, because it has only recently been open to the public and so far is not so very crowded with tourists. It has some interesting and otherwise fine (and large) examples of pyramids. This pyramid was most likely called "Amenemhat is well cared for", and is located east of the better known Red Pyramid, but is not nearly as well preserved as some others in the area. We call Amenemhat II's structure the White Pyramid, though it is certainly no longer white. It derived this name many years before when stone thieves stole the casing, leaving behind many limestone chips that made the pyramid at that time to appear white.

We know that from 1894 through 1895, Jacques de Morgan made a cursory investigation of the ruins. Unfortunately he was too focused on the jewelry finds in some surrounding princess' tombs that he never examined the mortuary temple, the causeway or the valley temple. In fact, no casing stones have ever been found nor even the base of the pyramid cleared for a proper measuring. Therefore, we are not sure of its size, the angle of its slop, or its height.

The mortuary temple was almost completely destroyed, though we know it was probably called "Lighted is the place of Amenemhat's pleasures". The ruins, which stand to the east of the pyramid have yet to be closely examined, though they must be very inviting to archaeologists. There are many building fragments, some of which include relief decorations. Most interesting, however, might be the massive, tower-like structures resembling pylons in the temple's east facade.

Regrettable, the causeway, which was broad with a steep slope and enters the enclosure wall on the middle of the east side, has not been investigated at all, and we are told that the valley temple has not even been found. The core of the pyramid was built much like that of Senusret I's pyramid, with a core that had corners radiating out. A framework was made with horizontal lines of blocks to form a grid, or framework between the corners. Here, however, the filling was sand.

This is the last time that the entrance to a pyramid would be uniformly in the middle of the north side of a pyramid. As customary, it was covered by a north chapel. the entrance leads to a descending corridor built of limestone blocks, not unlike the construction at Neferirkare's pyramid in Abusir. This corridor has a false, flat ceiling, atop which is a gabled ceiling made of limestone slabs leaned one against the other. Gabled ceilings of one nature or another were used in many pyramids in order to support the load of so much weight from the structure above. Also classically, the corridor levels out, before arriving first at a barrier made of two granite slabs, one of which slid vertically in to place, and the other sideways. Just a short way further the burial chamber is located on the pyramid's vertical axis.

However, Arnold does not see this complex as conforming to classical designs, even though it was closer in design to many older pyramids then those to be built in the future. He sees Amenemhat II's pyramid as the founding of a new pyramid age, when architects, rather then looking back to the Old Kingdom, found their own paths through experimentation. They the best design elements from the older pyramids with new techniques.

Like the corridor, the burial chamber also has a false flat ceiling toped by a more structurally sound gabled ceiling. The burial chamber itself is rather unique. Its main section is oriented east-west, but one section drops through a square hole sunk in the floor below the entrance corridor out past the granite blocks above. At the end of this room was a receptacle we believe held a canopic chest. Within the walls are four niches, including one on either short wall and two on the wall opposite the entrance. We do not know if these niches were used for statues, or offerings. There was a quartzite sarcophagus found at the west wall of the burial chamber.

The entire complex was surrounded by an enclosure wall that was much more rectangular then that found in older pyramids. It was oriented east-west. Behind the pyramid between it and the west part of the enclosure wall are found tombs of the royal family. The belong to prince Amenemhetankh and princesses Ita, Khnemet, Itiueret and Sithathormeret. Within these tombs, Morgan found the remains of funerary equipment, including wooden coffins, canopic chests and alabaster vessels for perfumes. But of course he also found wonderful jewelry in the tombs of Ita and Khnemet, that stole his attention. These pieces may now be found in the Treasure Chamber of the Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo.

Pyramid of Amenemhat III at Dahshur

Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III.

Amenemhat III attempted to build his first pyramid at Dahshur, but it turned out to be a disaster. Even with the near by Bent Pyramid as a reminder, Amenemhat III's architects built the pyramid on unstable subsoil. The Bent Pyramid is built upon compacted gravel, while Amenemhat III's is built on hard clay. The builder's compounded this mistake by building the pyramid in one of the lowest locations of any pyramid in Egypt. It lies only 33 feet above sea level. Further problems arose from the shear number of corridors and chambers within the substructure, and the reliance that the builders placed on their ceilings which had no real stress relieving devices above the king's burial chamber.

Early on ground water from the nearby Nile Valley seeped into the pyramid's substructure causing structural damage, causing menacing cracks to appear in the corridor and chamber walls soon after the pyramid was completed. Even before the limestone was applied to the queen chambers, the weight of the pyramid was pushing down on the ceiling with such force that the walls sank in places up to three cn (two inches) into the pavements. Today the pyramid named "Amenemhat is Mighty" is a sad dark ruin on the Dahshur field, aptly sometimes called the Black Pyramid. Even though it took 15 years to build, rather then being buried in this pyramid, Amenemhat III chose to build a second pyramid at Hawara, closer to his beloved Fayoum.

The pyramid was first written about by Perring, who apparently lacked the time to explore the ruins at all. His campsite had been attacked by Bedouins, and it would seem that Perring lost his interest in Dahshur. The Lepsius expedition seems to have noticed it in 1843, but that was all, until around the early 1900s. It was de Morgan, assisted by George Legrain and Jequier who finally carried out extensive excavations. Yet at that time, excavations methods remained crude, and many questions about the pyramid remained to be answered. In fact, their investigation was never completed. Finally, between 1976 and 1983, a team from the German Archaeological Institute of Cairo lead by Arnold, carried out a modern, extensive examination.

Plan of Amenemhat III's pyramid.

The valley temple for this complex is badly damaged but it is one of the first 12 Dynasty valley temples to have been located and partially cleared. It was very simple, with two broad open courts built on ascending terraces. Interestingly, the side walls of the first court were thickened to form a pylon like gateway. Within these ruins was found a limestone model of the subterranean corridors and chambers of a 13th Dynasty pyramid that has not yet been discovered. However, some Egyptologists believe that this model, though varying somewhat, was actually of Amenemhat III's pyramid at Hawara.

Originally a broad, open causeway built between two brick walls first led to the valley temple and then continued, connected the valley temple to Amenemhat III's mortuary temples and pyramids complex. North of the causeway was a mudbrick settlement for the priests.

The mortuary temple connected to the pyramid was relatively small and simple, consisting of an entrance, an open courtyard with eighteen granite columns in the shape of eight stemmed papyrus plants. However, it was badly damaged and the layout is really a guess. Behind the courtyard we believe was a long, offering hall. Two plastered, whitewashed mudbrick enclosure walls surrounded the pyramid, with the inner wall dividing the outer open courtyard of the mortuary temple from the inner sanctuary. This inner wall was also decorated with niches, while the outer wall did not. It is uncertain whether there was a north chapel.

One must wonder about the architects of this pyramid, and their level of expertise. The pyramid core was built of mudbrick, just as earlier 12th Dynasty pyramids. However, it liked the stone wings and framework of the earlier pyramids. The builders attempted to strengthen the structure by building the core in step form. The outer mantle was made of five meter this blocks of fine white limestone held together with a system of wooden dovetail joining pegs. Near the top of the pyramid, the wall's angle of inclination decreased. The pyramid was capped off with a beautiful dark gray granite pyramidion, discovered in the rubble in 1990, that was originally 1.3 meters tall. All four sides of the pyramidion bore inscriptions and religious symbols. The underside was beveled to fit into the casing block below.

However, there are questions about the pyramidion. One inscription containing the name of Amun was destroyed, presumably on purpose during the reign of Akhenaten, The pyramidion must have already fallen off by that time, or it was never placed on the pyramid apex. It may have even been a symbolic pyramid on the complex grounds.

View of the Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III from the East Chapel at the Bent Pyramid.

For the first time, we see a single pyramid built to accept the remains of both a king and several of his queens. Therefore, the substructure is rather complex, and differs entirely from earlier 12th Dynasty pyramids. In fact, even given the number of expected burials, it was more complex then the underground layout of earlier pyramids. The subterranean area is divided into two parts, one of which was for the king and the other for two of his consorts. The two sections are connected by a corridor. Near the southeast corner on the east side of the pyramid, at the lowest foundation layer, is located the entrance to the king's tomb.

Most of the king's section of the pyramid lies under the eastern quadrant of the pyramid. From the entrance, a stairway, for the first time since the 3rd Dynasty, led down to an a chamber with a niche high in the wall for the king's canopic chest. This to a short stairway that in turn leads to an entrance corridor and an entire system of passageways, shafts, barriers and chambers at various levels, all of it covered in fine white limestone. In fact, there are more underground chambers and passages than any other pyramids since the 3rd Dynasty.

This entrance corridor runs for about twenty meters before turning to the north. However, prior to arriving at this first turn, a corridor leads off to the south from the entrance corridor that eventually arrives at the queen's section of the pyramid. At the end of the original entrance corridor a right turn is made leading to a short corridor. A second corridor to the queen's chambers leads west off this short passage. The short passage then led to another right 90 degree passage heading back in the direction of the pyramid's entrance.

Following the corridor we find another left 90 degree turn leading past a set of annexes before a final left 90 degree turn finally takes us to a small antechamber and then the burial chamber. The burial chamber is somewhat offset from the vertical axis of the pyramid, but was probably suppose to be directly under it. Apparently the builders lacked the knowledge that others before them had demonstrated. The burial chamber is also sheathed in fine white limestone, and oriented east-west. Though Amenemhat III was not buried in this pyramid, there was a pink granite sarcophagus within the burial chamber near the west wall. The sarcophagus had a vaulted top and niches that imitated the perimeter wall of Djoser's Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Near the north end of the east side of the sarcophagus was a set of eyes for the occupant to lookout in the direction of the sunrise and resurrection.

There were two means of getting from the king's section of the pyramid to the queens section, the direct route from the short, second corridor and the more complex corridor leading south off of the entrance corridor. While the first connecting corridor leads almost directly to the queen's burial chamber, the second passage, sometimes called the "South Tomb", contains a labyrinth of passageways and six chapels, including a ka chapel. Apparently this part of the substructure also imitates a section of Djoser's pyramids complex. Lehner believes this section of the tomb acted as a counterpart to the king's burial suite, acting somewhat like an internalized cult pyramid.

The queen's section mostly lies under the southern quadrant of the pyramid. There was a second outside entrance to the queens chambers lying opposite that of the king's entrance, only on the west side of the pyramid. Here, there was also a descending stairway leading to a chamber with a niche above the doorway for the canopic chest of Queen Aat. A corridor out of this chamber that first passes a short corridor on the left leading to the burial chamber of Queen Aat, who was about 35 when she died It then continues past a second northern corridor that leads to the burial chamber of the second queen, who may have been Neferuptah. This queen was probably around 25. The bones of both queens were found within their chambers. On the west wall of each burial chamber were sarcophaguses that were very similar to that of the king's. However, the sarcophagus of the second queen lacked the niches found on Amenemhat III's sarcophagus.

Though thieves had long ago broken into this pyramid, a few items of funerary equipment were found in the queen's chambers. Within Aat's chambers there were two mace heads discovered along with seven alabaster cases in the form of ducks, an alabaster unguent jar and scattered pieces of jewelry. Thought the canopic chest was broken, all the pieces were found and it contained one canopic jar. In the second queen's chambers were found an obsidian vassals decorated with gold bands, three alabaster duck shaped vessels, granite and alabaster mace heads and jewelry. There wee also parts of this queen's stone shrine, originally encased in gold and containing a ka statue.

Along with the bones of the two queens, four additional burials were discovered within the pyramid. Because the name of Amenemhat IV appears on the valley temple, some believe that two of these burials may have been that king and the last regent of the 12 Dynasty, Queen Sobekneferu. If so, the pyramid was most likely reopened after having been previously sealed. Amenemhat IV and Queen Sobekneferu may have begun pyramids at Mazghuna, but these were far from completed and it would appear that no burials took place.

The pyramid was presumable sealed in year 20 of Amenemhat II's reign. This took the form of not only filling the entrance stairways with limestone blocks, but also the king's chamber and antechambers, the queens' burial chambers and the entrance corridors to the ka chapels. Other chambers and corridors were filled with mudbrick. This may have been a precaution against the pyramid's collapse, but chambers in Amenemhat III's pyramid at Hawara were similarly filled.

Outside the pyramid, between the first and second enclosure walls on the north is a row of ten shaft tombs for the remainder of the royal family. We know that the second tomb from the east belongs to the king's daughter, Princess Nubheteptikhered. The first tomb on the east was usurped by King Auibre Hor, an insignificant ruler of the 13th Dynasty. The wooden statue of his Ka found within this tomb is one of the most valuable objects in the Egyptian Antiquities Museum. King Hor's mummy was found within a wooden coffin discovered in the tomb, along with some items of funerary equipment. This included a wooden canopic chest that bore the name of Nimaatre, a name for Amenemhat III. However, the view these days among Egyptologists seems to be that the name refers to a Khendjer, a successor of Hor's. Khendjer later took the name Userkare. There seems to be considerable confusion around this particular burial among archaeologists.

The remnants of the monument are located one mile south of the pyramid of Amenemhat III. Several tombs of princesses, the queen and the vizier were found west of the site. Beautiful jewels were found in the tombs of princesses.

Pyramid of Ameny Kemau at Dahshur

In 1957, the american expedition in Dahshur, discovered a small and heavily damaged pyramid located close to the southeast rim of ancient Lake Dahshur. Broken canopic jars from the site identified the owner as Ameny Kemau (Ameny-Qemau), a little known ruler from the 13th Dynasty during Egypt's Second Intermediate Period. In fact, we know so little about Ameny Kemau that we cannot really even place his order of rule, a not altogether uncommon situation in the intermediate periods. In 1968, Maragioglio and Rinaldi further investigated the structure and refined the pyramids ground plan.

This pyramid that most visitors to Dahshur will never notice was originally about 50 meters tall (164 ft). While the superstructure is almost completely destroyed, the substructure is better known. The entrance to the structure was in front of the east side, slightly north of its axis. This entrance leads to a corridor that first apparently led through several small chambers and a barrier before reaching a larger chamber with a stairway leading off to the right (north). This short passage lead to another stairway that again angled back towards the west before making a final left 90 degree turn towards the south and the burial chamber.

The burial chamber lay almost exactly on the pyramids vertical axis, and like a number of earlier pyramids, consisted of an enormous quartzite monolith in which the craftsmen cut two niches, a large one for the coffin and a smaller hole for the king's canopic chest. After the internment, a mighty lid that rested on the floor of the antechamber was slid on to the coffer and locked in place by a sideways sliding porcullis slab. Regrettably, these precautions never seemed to foil grave robbers, who in this case plundered the tomb and left only fragments of the canopic chest.

Pyramid of Senusret III at Dahshur

The pyramid of Senusret III at Dahshur was apparently first investigated by de Morgan during the 1894-1895 excavation season. It is located northeast of the Red Pyramid, and far surpasses the pyramids of his predecessors in the 12th Dynasty in size. It is also very different in many respects in its underlying religious conception and represents another developmental milestone in pyramid design.

Pyramid of Senusret III.

We know nothing of the valley temple that may have been associated with this pyramid, for it has never been found, and while there was certainly a causeway that lead to the pyramid from the southeast, it has not yet been investigated. There was originally a small mortuary temple on the center of the pyramid's east side. It is too ruined really to make anything of the plan of this temple, but Arnold theorizes that it evidences the decline of the traditional mortuary cult, reduced to an offering hall with a granite false door, storage magazines and an entrance chamber. From fragments, we believe the wall decorations were executed in high relief, bearing the royal name and titles. Other fragments, possibly from a temple antechamber, reveal deities moving towards the king, with lower registers recording rows of officials and the slaughter of cattle. Still other fragments, very probably from the offering hall, show the king enthroned before an offering table with rows of offering bearers, the offering list, cattle slaughter and gifts.

However, within the new, expanded enclosure wall to the south that was built later, a larger, new temple was also constructed. This temple was ruined, but not as severely as the eastern temple. We believe it may have consisted of two sections, a forecourt with papyrus stem columns, and rear sanctuaries. Fragmentary reliefs found within this temple depict the king in the typical cloak worn for the Sed-festival, along with deities, such as the ram headed gods Khnum and Herishef. Some Egyptologists feel that design elements within this temple are evolutionary forerunners of the New Kingdom tombs at Thebes.

Many of the earlier 12th Dynasty pyramids used a framework consisting of extensions from the corners of the core and cross slabs between them to form a grid. This framework was then filled with rubble, sand or mudbrick and then overlaid with casing. A ditch was often dug around the pyramid in order to secure the bottom of the casing. While Senusret III's pyramid apparently followed the earlier mode of securing the casing, it abandons the framework leaving only a mudbrick core. The core was built up in stepped horizontal courses. Interestingly, the mudbricks vary in size, suggesting that no mould was used, and there are finger marks on some bricks, presumably to monitor the progression of the work. These bricks were laid without mortar, though sand was used to fill the seams. Apparently, the pyramid lasted into the reign of Ramesses II in the New Kingdom, because from the graffiti of visitors we know that at that time it continued to inspire admiration. However, within two hundred years after Ramesses II's reign, it laid in ruins.

Like prior pyramids, the casing was joined with dovetail cramps and the bottom rested on a foundation built in a trench of roughly squared block atop three courses of mudbrick. Behind the outer casing, the builders laid backing stones on the budbrick core in order to tie the casing stones and the core together.

Just as Petrie had difficulty finding the entrance to Senusret II's pyramid at Lahun, de Morgan also had a hard time finding the entrance to this pyramid. He tunneled extensively into and under the pyramid before, in November of 1895, finally hitting upon an ancient robber's tunnel that finally led him to the burial chamber. No longer did kings place the entrances to their pyramids in the middle of the north side of the structures, or consistently anywhere. To complicate matters further, there is a north chapel, as was found in earlier temples, that usually hid the entrance doorways.

The entrance this time was to be found hidden in the courtyard pavement west of the pyramid near the northwest corner. From there a vertical shaft dropped to a descending corridor that lead off to the east under the pyramid, finally turning south and arriving at first an antechamber and then the burial chamber. To the east of the antechamber is a small annex, recalling the plan of many Old Kingdom pyramids.

Oddly, the burial chamber does not lie very close at all to the vertical axes of the pyramid. This chamber has a false vaulted ceiling with a stress relieving gabled roof built of five pairs of limestone beams, each weighing 30 tons. Above this was another mudbrick vault. The walls of the chamber are sheathed in granite and covered in a thin layer of white stucco (gypsum). Elsewhere in the substructure, the floors, ceiling walls and false door are covered in cheaper limestone and painted with red and black dots so that it would resemble the more expensive and durable pink granite.

Keeping with tradition, a marvelous granite sarcophagus was located by the west wall of the burial chamber. Like those of a number of future 12 Dynasty rulers, it had niches (fifteen) along its side in imitation of the Djoser Step Pyramid enclosure wall at Saqqara. This design is often referred to as a palace facade. A niche was placed in the south wall of the burial chamber for the king's Canopic chest. In the north wall a blocked opening once led back into the entrance corridor.

While grave robbers entered the pyramid during the Hyksos period, and even left rough sketches of themselves, this may not entirely be the reason that the pyramid was found almost empty. Because no canopic equipment was found, and also the fact that the pyramid has no corridor barriers and only dust was found in the sarchophagus, Joe Wegner, Lehner and others have expressed the view that Senusret III may not have been buried in this pyramid at all, but rather in his elaborate funerary complex in Abydos. Until very recently, that tomb in Abydos was thought to be symbolic (a cenotaph).

However, the question has been raised as to why Senusret III would suddenly revert to a tomb at Abydos when his predecessors and at least his immediate successors choose to be buried in their pyramids complexes in northern Egypt. Arnold seems to believe that the burial chamber we attribute to Senusret III was really a queen's chamber, because a kings chamber should lie closer to the vertical axes of the pyramid. In other words, Arnold seems to believe that the real burial chamber has never been found.

All that was found in the king's chamber, other then the sarcophagus, was some pottery vases and pieces of a bronze dagger with an ivory handle.

To the north of the pyramid de Morgan also discovered the tomb of princess arranged in two galleries. This system of tombs is much more complex then they originally appear. Arnold believes that at least four of the tombs in the upper gallery probably had superstructures in the form of a pyramid. Under these galleries, a principal shaft provided access to a long vaulted corridor connecting four sets of chambers, each built to hold a sarcophagus and canopic chest. There were also one or two niches in the walls. Below this was a second level where a corridor connected with eight niches containing sarcophagi, two of which were inscribed. One carried the name of a woman named Ment and the other Senet-senebti, who may have been princesses.

In the lower galleries, hidden away, archaeologist also found some splendid jewelry, as well as other items of the women's burial equipment. Some of this jewelry (333 pieces) belonged to a princess Sit-Hathor who was probably Senusret III sister and possibly also his wife. Other items belonged to a woman named Mereret (Merit) who some sources reference as his wife, while others say she was a daughter. Perhaps she was both. Some of this jewelry, which includes several gold pectoral studded with precious stones, gold bracelets and other precious items, are exquisite examples of 12 Dynasty craftsmanship. The items may now be found in the Treasure Chamber at the Egyptian Antiquity Museum in Cairo.

In addition to these tombs, three other small pyramids stood along the south wall of the main pyramid. These tombs also probably belonged to royal woman. In 1994 during an investigation by the Metropolitan Museum of New York, a shaft was found in the western most of these tombs that leads to a tunnel which in turn leads to an antechamber, burial chamber and canopic chamber (annex) that is actually located under the southwest corner of the king's pyramid. A granite sarcophagus fills the western end of the burial chamber. Fragments of a canopic jar found within this tomb bear the name of Khnumetneferhedjetweret (Weret), who was the wife of Senusret II and the mother of Senusret III.

Both the tombs on the north and south sides of the pyramid were originally thought to be mastabas, but in 1997, further investigation by Deiter Arnold revealed that they were, in fact, probably small pyramids.

All of these structures including the main pyramid and the subsidiary pyramids were surrounded by an outer perimeter wall with a niched, exterior facade. It was north-south oriented and to the north and south another niched wall was constructed, all of which again points to a revival of interest in Djoser's Saqqara complex. An inner perimeter wall surrounded only the pyramid and north chapel.

It should also be noted that near the northwest corner of the complex six wooded funerary boats were found buried in the sand. Each of the boats was six meters long (20 ft), and one or more wooden sleds were buried along with them. Two of these are currently in the Egyptian Antiquity Museum, while the other two are in the USA at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

Pyramid of Sneferu (Bent Pyramid) at Dahshur

The Bent Pyramid was probably the first planned from the outset to be a true pyramid, with smooth sides. This represents a glorious period in the evolution of the pyramid, comparable to that when Djsoer's architect, Imhotep, built the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. The Bent Pyramid was probably either the first or second of Sneferu's pyramids, depending on who built the Medium Pyramid. It was almost certainly built prior to his other project at Dahshur, the Red Pyramid. The pyramid is also sometimes called the Rhomboidal, False, or Blunt Pyramid. The ancient Egyptians called it "Sneferu Shines - South (pyramid)".

Sneferu's Bent Pyramid.

As one of the most unusual pyramids in Egypt, as well as one of the best preserved (much of its casing remains), it has attracted considerable attention over the centuries. Early visitors included European travelers such as Richard Pococke, Robert Huntington, Robert Wood and Edward Melton. Yet strangely, a serious archaeological investigation of the structure was not made until the 19th Century, when the great pyramid explorers Perring, Lepsius and later still, Petrie came to explore the structure. Later still, after World War II, Abdel Salam Hussain and Alexandre Varille further investigated the Bent Pyramid, but regrettably their work was lost.

Modern archaeological studies of the Bent Pyramid began under the direction of Ahmad Fakhry in the first half of the 1950s, and his information was added to by important observations and measurements made by Maragioglo and Rinaldi, as well as Josef Dorner, an Austrian geodesist.

Even with all of this investigation, some Egyptologists believe that the pyramid may still hold a few secrets. Some question whether all of the pyramid's chambers have actually been located. Investigation of the pyramid was sometimes difficult, because wind created a strong draft blowing through the passageways. This so hindered the archaeological studies that work was sometimes interrupted. However, these problems occurred even prior to the discovery of the walled in western entrance, so some current Egyptologists wonder how the draft was vented, and leading them to speculate that other rooms or passageways might remain undiscovered.

The remains of the pyramid complex's valley temple lie about a kilometer west of the Nile Valley, about half way between between the pyramid and the Nile river. There may have in fact been a second causeway that lead down to a dock or landing stage. It is the first valley temple we know of to be connected to a pyramids complex, and so it has been fairly well investigated archaeologically. However, it may have been preceded by a valley temple that at Medium, though the investigation of that structure is hampered by high water levels. In reality, the Bent Pyramid's prelude to the valley temple is in fact part valley temple and part mortuary temple, containing elements of both types of structures.

The Bent Pyramid valley temple is rectangular and north-south oriented. It was built of fine white limestone, with an entrance in the middle of the south facade. The entrance was framed with wooden pillars with pennants. During the Middle Kingdom, a limestone stele from the tomb of Sneferu's son, Netjeraperef was used to frame the entrance doorway.

The full titulary of Sneferu written within a Serekh on a limestone stela found near the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur.

This temple has three sections of equal size. In the southern section, are located four storerooms. Here, the side walls are decorated with scenes depicting representations of personified mortuary estates. On the east wall Upper Egyptian sources are displayed, while on the west wall we find Lower Egyptian funerary estates. These reliefs are considered to be some of the best artwork of the 4th Dynasty, and are the earliest known examples of such estate scenes.

A portico with ten, undecorated limestone pillars arranged in two rows occupied the northern part of the valley temple. These pillars were all painted red. Here we find the walls decorated with bas-reliefs portraying the ruler participating in the rituals of the Sed-festival. At the rear of the portico was six deep niches, originally each provided with wooden doors, that held six statues of Sneferu in a walking pose. Their north walls were built from large limestone monoliths decorated with the figure of the king in half sculpture. Here, we find the king represented at least twice wearing the crown of Upper Egypt, and at least once wearing the crown of Lower and Upper Egypt.

Apparently uncommon in later structures, the Bent Pyramid's valley temple was enclosed within a huge perimeter wall made of mudbrick. Within the wall apparently the temple priests of Snefru's mortuary cult, which lasted into the Middle Kingdom, made their homes. The causeway to the main pyramid and complex led out of the southwest corner of the valley temple and enclosure wall.

The causeway to the main pyramid complex followed an irregular path leading from the valley temple It had no roof, but was paved with limestone blocks. Along the causeway ran low, fine white limestone walls that were rounded at the top and slightly inclined on the outside.

The pyramids complex was surrounded by a huge wall built probably of local yellowish, gray limestone. This wall enclosed a large, square courtyard to which the causeway connected on the northeast corner.

A cult chapel, consisting of fine white limestone walls and roof, stood at the foot of the east wall of the pyramid directly on the east-west axis. Here, an altar was located, also in the form of the hetep symbol, but this time constructed of three limestone block with two nine meter high fine white limestone monoliths (stele) to its north and south sides. On the southern monolith Sneferu's name and titles were engraved in bas-relief (part of which may now be found in the Egyptian Antiquity Museum in Cairo). Over time, this chapel was surrounded by mudbrick walls and eventually it was made into a small temple. Because of Sneferu's later deification and worship during the Middle Kingdom, some renovations in this structure were still being made for many years.

It is not unusual for us to find pyramids in Egypt that are mere ruins, often because of a poor foundation. It seems that some pyramid architects took the foundation very seriously, while others did not. The Bent Pyramid, though largely intact, owes its preservation to the builder's realization of their errors soon enough to make changes to their initial building plans.

Entrance of Sneferu's Bent Pyramid

The relatively soft layer of slaty clay that the core rests upon seriously compromised the stability of the whole structure. The structure was further weakened by the internal masonry being laid with little care, leaving substantial gaps that were then filled with limestone rubble. However, one reason that so much of the fine white limestone casing remains is that they built an artificial foundation that it rests atop.

The pyramid actually went through about three different alterations away from the original plans, which called for the structure to have an angle of almost 60 degrees. The was changed to a less steep slope of almost 55 degrees, requiring that the base be enlarged. This first alteration can be clearly seen in the ceiling and the side walls of the north access corridor, about twelve meters from the entrance. These early stages of construction used the traditional method of laying the courses of the core with the stones sloping inward. However, this adjustment in slope proved to be inadequate.

When the pyramid was about 45 meters high, the angle of the slope was reduced to 45 degrees (later pyramid usually had a slope of between 52 and 53 degrees), which had the effect of reducing the mass of the upper part of the pyramid and thus reducing the load on the substructure. At this point in the pyramid's construction, the builders began laying the stone courses horizontally (rather than with the stones sloping inwards). Apparently the builders had learned that the inward sloping layers of the core, rather than adding stability, actually increased the stresses within the structure.

It should also be noted that other structural changes were incorporated into the Bent Pyramid. For example, both the core stones and the casing stones were larger than those used in 3rd Dynasty pyramids. In act, the casing stones were much larger.

However, it should also be noted that a very few scholars believe that the pyramid was intentionally planned to have its odd shape for various religious reasons. This theory is dismissed by most Egyptologists.

There are actually two entrances to the substructure. A north entrance is aligned with the pyramid's north-south axis about twelve meters above ground level. The entrance leads to a descending corridor and then to an underground antechamber with a high, corbel vault ceiling made of large limestone slabs. A steep ladder (stairway) leads up into a burial chamber that also has a corbel vault ceiling. From here, a short passage leads out of the southwest corner to a vertical shaft, which today is partly destroyed. This shaft, referred to by archaeologists as the chimney, is precisely aligned with the vertical axis of the pyramid.

The second entrance to the pyramid is much higher up the west face of the structure. Again, it leads to a descending corridor, but here we find two portcullis barriers. The corridor ends in an "upper chamber", which also has a corbel vault ceiling made of rough limestone slabs. In the openings of side walls were found the remains of cedar beams (also to be found in his possible pyramid at Meidum). The lower part of the chamber was filled with rough limestone masonry, some of which was bound with mortar and some of which was laid dry.

The function of the masonry and beams is unknown. Maragioglio and Rinaldi believed that this formed a structure intended to either serve as a base of the sarcophagus, or to help protect it. Stadelmann, on the other hand, thinks that the material was perhaps to prevent the side walls from cracking, or possibly to finish off the vault. It seems that other Egyptologists such as Lehner agree with him.

Fakhry believes that Sneferu was actually buried in this chamber. Within the chamber, crudely written in red pigments is an inscription that bears the courtouche of Sneferu, but most Egyptologists believe the pyramid was never used for its intended purpose, and some also believe that it was the upper north chamber that was originally intended to be the burial chamber of Sneferu.

The chambers of the pyramid accessed by the northern entrance are lower than those accessed by the western entrance, but both substructures are connected by one narrow, irregular tunnel roughly cut through the core masonry of the pyramid. This passage communicates with the lower chamber and connected to the western substructure between the two barriers, but was almost certainly built after the completion of both substructures.

Egyptologists speculate that the underground substructure and the passage connecting the two systems, with the rooms all oriented north-south, was an effort by the builders to harmonize traditional theology with the emerging sun worship inspired east-west orientation of the pyramid complex as a whole. Others, though the arguments are somewhat similar, believe that the western substructure acted similarly to the South Tomb of Djoser.

Attached to the north face of the pyramid was a small mudbrick "north chapel". Though little of this remains, from other pyramid we can probably assume that there would have been a sacrificial table with the hieroglyphic sign for hetep (offering, or offering table), cut into its upper side.

A small cult pyramid stands off further to the south side, but still along the pyramid axis. It has an substructure with an entrance on the north side at ground level. This entrance leads to a corridor that first descends, and then ascends to communicate with a small chamber with a corbel vaulted ceiling just under seven meters above the floor. Many scholars see this corridor as the model for the Great Gallery in Sneferu's son's (Khufu) pyramid at Giza. On the east side of the cult pyramid was another small chapel with an alabaster altar with five meter high limestone monoliths bearing the king's name and titles to either side.

Pyramid of Sneferu (Red Pyramid) at Dahshur

Red Pyramid at Dahshur.

The severe structural probles encountered while building the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur South, led Sneferu to build yet another pyramid, at a small distance to the North.

Stripped from its limestone casing, this new pyramid is has a redish colour, hence its modern-day name, the Red Pyramid. Its Ancient Egyptian name was The Shining One.

An inscription found at the base of this pyramid has shown that work had started during the year of the 15th cattle count of Sneferu's reign. Since the cattle counts were held at irregular intervals during this reign, this refers to somewhere between Sneferu's 15th and 30th year.

Interestingly, a second inscription was found 30 courses of stones higher. it is dated 2 to 4 years later than the inscription found at the base. This gives an idea about the speed at which the Egyptians were able to build a monument like this pyramid.

The work on this pyramid probably started when structural problems encountered when building the Bent Pyramid forced the builders to temporarily abandon this project.

The Red Pyramid was built with a slope of only 43°22'. Its base length is 220 metres, that is 32 metres more than the Bent Pyramid. Its height is the same as the Bent Pyramid in its final state: 105 metres.

The broader base and lower slope were intended to better spread the mass of this pyramid and thus avoid the structural problems that had temporarily halted works on the Bent Pyramid.

Tiny pyramidal structure in front of the Red Pyramid

The internal structure of this pyramid is a further continuation of the pyramid at Meidum and the Bent Pyramid. Contrary to this latter monument, however, there is only one internal structure, making it a lot more simple. The entrance is located high up in the Northern face of the pyramid. A descending passage leads down for 62.63 metres to a short horizontal corridor. This is followed by two almost identical antechambers with corbelled roofs. Both antechambers measure 3.65 by 8.36 metres and are 12.31 metres high.

The burial chamber can only be reached via a short passage which opens high up in the wall of the second antechamber. The burial chamber measures 4.18 by 8.55 metres. Its corbelled roof goes up to a height of 14.67 metres. It is located well above groundlevel, in the core of the pyramid.

The chapel built against the Eastern face of the pyramid was finished hastily, probably after the death of Sneferu. It is somewhat more elaborate than the eastern chapel of the Red Pyramid or the pyramid at Meidum in that it houses an inner sanctuary, flanked by two smaller chapels.

There is no trace of a causeway leading down to the Valley Temple, of which few remains were found at the end of the 19th century. There is little doubt that Sneferu was finally buried in this pyramid, although the fragments of human remains found inside the burial chamber are not certain to have been his.

Interestingly, during the reign of Pepi I of the 6th Dynasty, this pyramid along with its southern neighbour, the Bent Pyramid, was considered as one estate.