Layer Pyramid
Layer Pyramid | |
---|---|
Step Pyramid (planned to comprise 5 steps) | |
Material | natural bedrock and mudbricks |
Height | planned to be 42–45 m (138–148 ft), today 17 m (56 ft) |
Base | 84 m (276 ft) |
Slope | 68° |
The Layer Pyramid (known locally in
The pyramid was excavated at the beginning of the 20th century by two different teams who reported conflicting estimates regarding its size and number of subterranean chambers. No artefacts were found over the course of the excavations, and no trace of a burial could be found. For this reason, it is unclear whether the pyramid was used to bury a pharaoh or was abandoned following the premature death of the king.
At the time of its construction the pyramid was surrounded by a necropolis housing large mastabas belonging to the high officials of the 3rd Dynasty state. A mortuary temple was built on the eastern side of the pyramid and a valley temple was possibly located several hundred metres from it. Nowadays, the pyramid is located within the confines of a restricted military area, barring modern excavations of the site.
Research history
The Layer Pyramid was first examined and its surroundings explored in 1839 by John Shae Perring. Soon after, in 1848, the pyramid was identified as such by Karl Richard Lepsius, who listed it as number XIV in his pioneering list of pyramids.[1][2] Around 40 years later, in 1886, Gaston Maspero unsuccessfully searched for the entrance of the subterranean passages of the pyramid, which was discovered in 1896 by Jacques de Morgan.[3] The latter undertook excavations of the pyramid but stopped after clearing the first few steps of the descending stairway.[4][5]
Further investigations were then performed in 1900 by
Description
Location
The Layer Pyramid lies close to the necropolis of Zawyet El Aryan, 8 km (5.0 mi) south-west of Giza and 7 km (4.3 mi) north of Saqqara.[4][5][9] The main structure is located on a rock ridge just above the floodplain.[9]
Superstructure
The Layer Pyramid has a square base whose side is about 84 m (276 ft) long, slightly smaller than the step pyramids of Djoser and Sekhemket. Based on the dimensions of the pyramid of Djoser, the egyptologist
Whether the pyramid was finished or left unfinished is disputed among experts. The egyptologist Rainer Stadelmann believes that the pyramid was indeed finished, but others, such as Miroslav Verner, think that the building was left unfinished because of the pharaoh's premature death.[4][5] In particular, no traces of outer cladding were found, which could hint that there never was one because the pyramid was not completed.[9]
Mud bricks were found at the base of the pyramid, which are not associated with the pyramid itself, but are interpreted as remnants of a construction ramp.[9]
Substructure
The disposition of the substructures of the layer pyramid is extremely similar to that found in the
The entrance to the subterranean structures lies on the east, a disposition which would be unparalleled until the construction of the pyramid of Senusret II, almost 1000 years later. The egyptologists Vito Maraglioglio and Celeste Rinaldi proposed that this unique feature was chosen by the Egyptian architects in order to free the north side of the pyramid for the construction of a temple.[11] Aidan Dodson showed however that in this situation, the pyramid construction ramp would have "impinged on any northern temple construction even more damagingly". Rather, he explains this unique eastern entrance as resulting from a desire by the architects to allow for easy access to the pyramid store rooms, located immediately beneath the eastern entrance.[8]
The entrance immediately leads to a 36 m (118 ft) long steep stairway and then down on to a corridor which heads west. The corridor ends in a straight vertical shaft, at the top of which is the so-called upper corridor, an unfinished passage which goes south toward the center of the pyramid. At the bottom of the shaft is a T-shaped crossway. To the left, this crossway leads south to the lower corridor, half-way of which is a narrow stairway, so narrow that a sarcophagus could hardly have been passed through it. The lower corridor then finishes in the king's burial chamber. In this area of the stairway, Barsanti drew another gallery leading above the burial chamber, but this gallery is absent in Reisner's and Fisher's notes.[4][5] To the right of the T-shaped crossway is a U-shaped gallery system. The ground plan of the gallery system resembles that of a comb, comprising rows of chambers, totalling 32, which were possibly destined to be storage rooms for the gravegoods.[4][5] The gallery proved to be "clean and empty, as if the workmen had only left".[9]
The king's burial chamber is located 26 m (85 ft) below ground, is nearly square in shape, with a base of 3.63 m × 2.65 m (11.9 ft × 8.7 ft), and a ceiling height of 3 m (9.8 ft).[9] The burial chamber contained no traces of a sarcophagus, which together with the absence of artefacts in the gallery, hints to the premature death of the king.[9]
Funerary complex and necropolis
Funerary complex
The funerary complex of the layer pyramid shows no trace of an enclosure wall, which is present in both earlier and later pyramid complexes. This could be because the stones constituting the wall were robbed over time, or simply because the wall was never started, being usually the last element of the pyramid complex to be built. At the eastern side of the pyramid, the remnants of brick walls could indicate the presence of a mortuary temple, but the archaeological traces are so tenuous that any closer examination and more precise reconstruction is impossible today. The same goes for the ruins of a building several hundred metres away from the pyramid, and which might have been the valley temple. If this was indeed a valley temple, its east-west orientation would be unique in all pyramid complexes.[2][4][5][6]
Necropolis
The layer pyramid is surrounded by a total of five cemeteries dating to the
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The layer pyramid as seen from the east, just prior to Reisner and Fisher excavations in 1910-1911.
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North face of the layer pyramid, 1910.
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Mud-brick masonry of the layer pyramid, 1910.
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Nearly vertical masonry of mud-brick of the layer pyramid, looking east 1910.
Date and attribution
The architecture of the layer pyramid allows it to be securely dated to the time span between the reigns of king
The remaining problem about the layer pyramid is the question of who had it built. Most scholars today believe that it was likely king Khaba of the late 3rd Dynasty.
See also
- List of Egyptian pyramids
- Lepsius list of pyramids
- Egyptian pyramid construction techniques
- Egyptian pyramids
References
- ^ Karl Richard Lepsius: Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien, Text 1, p.128, Pyramid no. XIV, available online.
- ^ a b c d Mark Lehner: Z500 and The Layer Pyramid of Zawiyet-el-Aryan, Excerpt available online Archived 2014-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Alexandre Barsanti: Ouverture de la pyramide de Zaouiet el-Aryân, Annales du service des antiquités de l'Égypte, Vol. 2, 1902, pp. 92-94, available online.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rainer Stadelmann: King Huni: His Monuments and His Place in the History of the Old Kingdom. In: Zahi A. Hawass, Janet Richards (Hrsg.): The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt. Essays in Honor of David B. O’Connor. Band II, Conceil Suprême des Antiquités de l’Égypte, Kairo 2007, p. 425–431, available online
- ^ ISBN 3-499-60890-1, p. 174-177.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i G.A. Reisner and C.S. Fisher: "The Work of the Harvard University - Museum of Fine Arts Egyptian Expedition" (pyramid of Zawiyet el-Aryan), Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts (BMFA) 9, Boston, No. 54 Vol. IX (December 1911), pp. 54-59, available online
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87846-108-0
- ^ a b c Aidan Dodson: The Layer Pyramid of Zawiyet El-Aryan Its Layout and Context, Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, Vol. 37 (2000), pp. 81-90, Available online
- ^ ISBN 978-0-500-28547-3, p. 96.
- ^ a b c Jean-Philippe Lauer: Histoire monumentale des pyramides d'Égypte. Volume 1: Les pyramides à degrés (IIIe Dynastie), Bibliothèque d'étude vol. 39. Institut français d'archéologie orientale - Bibliothèque d'études, Paris 1962, p. 19-22.
- ^ V. Maraglioglio and C. Rinaldi: L'architettura delle Piramidi Menfite II, (Rapallo,1963), p. 41-49.
- ISBN 0-19-815034-2.