Dahshur

Dahshur

This is a site in the Libyan plateau that served as a royal necropolis  in the south of Saqqara .

Things to see:

Pyramid Complex of Senusert III.

 It was investigated both by Perring ciml site isVyse in 1839 and de Morgan in 1894. Both found inscriptions of the king in the ruined Mortuary Temple. The Valley Temple, which has never been cleared, is joined to this by a Causeway.

The Pyramid of Senusert III is built of mud brick, cased with limestone blocks bonded together by cramps, some of which may still be seen, but the pyramid is now greatly ruined. It is entered through a pit on the wet side (the interior is inaccessible), the north entry having apparently been abandoned for reasons of security.

The burial chamber as described by de Morgan was lined with red granite and at the west side stood a panelled red granite sarcophagus.

A gallery from the NE side of the pyramid leads to the Royal Tombs of several members of the king's family.

Here de Morgan found the jewellery of the princesses of the dynasty (now in the Jewel Room of the EM), material of the highest quality. S of the surrounding wall three perfect cedar boats some 10m long were found, and fragments of another five vessels. With them was a large sledge used for their transport. {Two of these boats are in the EM, the third is in the Chicago Natural History Museum.)

It seems almost certain that Senusert III was buried in this pyramid surrounded by his family and officials.

To the SW is the North Pyramid Complex of Sneferu. Recently not accessible, the North Pyramid of Sneferu, called 'Sneferu gleams', is built of local limestone, cased with finer Turah material, but much of which has been lost. In size it resembles the pyramids at Gizah being 220m sq., 99m high, with an angle of 43°40'; in fact it considerably exceeds the Pyramid of Khafre in volume, thus being the second most massive pyramid. The entry is in the middle of the N face, c 28m above ground level (interior inaccessible) and leads to a passage descending at an angle, 60m long.

 This leads to three chambers with corbelled roofs similar in style to those of the S Pyramid (see below). No trace of a royal burial was found here either when investigated in the last century by Perring and Vyse, or more recently by Fakhry.

The Valley Temple and Mortuary Temple have not been found. If Sneferu was buried in either of these structures it is far more likely to have been in the southern one. Work on this pyramid has been hampered by fallen blocks.

The Pyramid Complex of Amenemhat II,

 called 'Amenemhat is strong'. Lying to the SE, also on the edge of the escarpment, is the earliest 12 Dyn. complex on the site.

The Valley Temple of this pyramid has never been discovered, but must have existed as a Causeway over 800m long extending from the edge of the cultivation to the pyramid.

 The Mortuary Temple is very much ruined but contained sufficient slabs inscribed with the name of Amenemhat to identify the monument.

 The Pyramid of Amenemhat II was excavated by de Morgan (1894-95). He found it ruined but was able to penetrate the interior.

It is so damaged that even the overall dimensions are slightly uncertain. It is built of brick divided into compartments filled with sand, and must originally have been faced with limestone, but this has been robbed long since.

The entry is in the N face (now inaccessible), from which a long sloping gallery protected by two portcullises leads to the burial chamber. The sandstone sarcophagus is still in place on the W side of the burial chamber.

Amenemhat was probably buried here, as to the W of the pyramid are the Tombs of the queen and four of his princesses.

SE of Amenemhat's pyramid is a mass of limestone blocks with a Causeway running towards the cultivation; this has never been investigated and almost certain)? represents the remains of another Pyramid.

Pyramid Complex of Amenemhat III,

undiscovered valley temple, which must be situated near the cultivation by a Causeway c 600m long and c 18.5m wide, originally paved with limestone slabs.

E of the pyramid is the Mortuary Temple, now alnto*' entirely destroyed, and nearby are a number of mud-brick structim-* probably used to house the temple officials.

 The mud-brick Pyramid ni Amenemhat HI, (called 'Amenemhat is beautiful'), was originally about 100m sq. and cased in limestone which has been systematically robber) as has much of the brick core, though Perring was able to calculate that the angle was 57°20'. A grey granite pyramidon bearing Amenemh.u « name was found here (now in the EM).

The entry to the pyramid is off-centre on the E side (now inaccessible) and the burial chamber contain red granite sarcophagus. But it is certain that the king was not buried here, but at his second pyramid at Hawarah (Rte 29) and that this served as a cenotaph.

Recent work by the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo has found a well and the foundation depsoits of the pyramid, with foundation bricks, two bulls' skulls, and a great deal of pottery. Also within the complex lie the Tomb of Awibre' Hor and a small Pyramid at Ameny 'Aamu, two 13 Dyn. kings.

tin-'Bent Pyramid' or 'Rhomboidal Pyramid'. It is probable that this wh-. where King Sneferu was buried. This structure measures 188.6m sq. and is 101.15m high. The angle of the slope is 54°31' to a height of 49.07m, and then changes to 43°21'; this change of slope gives the pyramid iK popular names.

 It is constructed of local limestone, cased with fine white Turah limestone laid in sloping courses, the blocks being tilted from the outside to the inside, which makes them very difficult to remove.

The entry to the pyramid is on the N face at 11.8m. On either side are sockets for a flap door. A descending passage 79.53m long but only l.lm high ends in a horizontal corridor with a corbelled roof 12.6m high. To reach the lower chamber a ladder has to be climbed to a point on the wall 6.25m above the floor. The lower chamber is also corbelled and on the S wall are the entries to two passages. One is vertical and leads to no known passage or room. The other, higher in the wall, c 12.6m with damaged ceiling, slopes upwards to a horizontal passage leading to the upper chamber lying beyond a portcullis. A remarkable feature of this room are the cedar beams which must have been imported from thn Lebanon.

From the horizontal passage a further corridor slopes up to the W face of the pyramid, where it emerges 33.32m from the base. Climbingabout inside this pyramid, which is unlit, gives a very good idea of the conditions that the early pyramid investigators encountered, even though the modern visitor is helped by the ladders left by Fakhry.

At the E of the pyramid is a small Mortuary Temple consisting of a little shrine, open to the E and W, under which was a large limestone slab surmounted by an alabaster offering table.

The shrine is flanked by two large stelae and surrounded by a mud-brick wall. Alterations were made to the temple both in the Middle Kingdom and the Ptolemaic period, when the worship of Sneferu was revived, and the excavators found a bowl of charcoal still on the alabaster offering table waiting for the incense to be added.

A Subsidiary Pyramid lies to the S of the main structure. It was cleared (1946-47) by Hussein and found empty,- no trace of any burial was dicovered, only some pottery, ft was too small to have contained the material of Sneferu's Queen Hetepheres found at Giza (Rte 23) and so far her original burial place remains undiscovered. The Valley Temple of the pyramid lies to the E of the building about half way to the cultivation. It is a simple rectangular building (47.16m by 26.20m) surrounded by a thick brick temenos wall.

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