It is nice to see an
earlier step pyramid been professionally excavated. This work clears things up rather well. Of course there are still arguments in favor
of the Great pyramid been built much earlier and that all the other pyramids
are imitative. This is sound enough, but
I do not see been able to excavate the Great Pyramid any time soon.
In fact global evidence
conforms to a 2400 BC build date for the Great Pyramid. That includes necessary copper mining from
Lake Superior. As well a global network
of pyramids all sports this apparent time frame.
Other claimed dates
are still far too controversial so we will stick to the well-established
dating.
4,600-Year-Old Step
Pyramid Excavated in Egypt
By Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor |
February 03, 2014 07:36am ET
TORONTO —
Archaeologists working near the ancient settlement of Edfu, in southern Egypt,
have uncovered a step pyramid that dates back about 4,600 years, predating the
Great Pyramid of Giza by at least a few decades.
The step pyramid, which once stood as high as 43
feet (13 meters), is one of seven so-called "provincial" pyramids
built by either the pharaoh Huni (reign ca. 2635-2610 B.C.) or Snefru (reign
ca. 2610-2590 B.C.). Over time, the step pyramid's stone blocks were pillaged,
and the monument was exposed to weathering, so today, it's only about 16 feet
(5 m) tall.
Scattered throughout
central and southern Egypt, the provincial pyramids are located near major
settlements, have no internal chambers and were not intended for burial. Six
of the seven pyramids have almost identical dimensions, including the newly
uncovered one at Edfu, which is about 60 x 61 feet (18.4 x 18.6 m).
The purpose of these
seven pyramids is a mystery. They may have been used as symbolic monuments
dedicated to the royal cult that affirmed the power of
the king in the southern provinces.
"The similarities
from one pyramid to the other are really amazing, and there is definitely a
common plan," said Gregory Marouard, a research associate at the
University of Chicago's Oriental Institute who led the work at the Edfu
pyramid. On the east side of the newly uncovered pyramid, his team found the
remains of an installation where food offerings appear to have been made — a
discovery that is important for understanding this kind of pyramid since it
provides clues as to what they were used for.
The team also found
hieroglyphic graffiti incised on the outer faces of the pyramid. The
inscriptions are located beside the remains of babies and children who were
buried at the foot of the pyramid. The researchers think the inscriptions and
burials date to long after the pyramid was built and that the structure was not
originally intended as a burial place.
Initial results of the
excavation were presented at a symposium held in Toronto recently by the
Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities.
Uncovering the pyramid
Though scholars knew
of the existence of the pyramid at Edfu, the structure had never been excavated
before Marouard's team started work in 2010, he said
in the study. His team found that the pyramid was covered by a thick layer of
sand, modern waste and remains from the pillaging of its blocks.
It didn't look like a
pyramid he said, and people in a nearby village even thought the structure was
the tomb of a sheikh, a local Muslim saint. As the team went to work cleaning
the monument, the ancient pyramid was revealed
Built of sandstone
blocks and clay mortar, it had been constructed in the form of a three-step
pyramid. A core of blocks rises up vertically, with two layers of blocks beside
it, on top of each other. This made the pyramid look like it had three steps.
The style is similar to that of a step pyramid built by Djoser (reign ca.
2670-2640 B.C.), the pharaoh who constructed Egypt's first pyramid at the
beginning of the third ancient Egyptian dynasty. The technique is close to that
used at the Meidum pyramid, which was built by either Snefru or Huni and
started out as a step pyramid before being turned into a true pyramid.
"The construction
itself reflects a certain care and a real expertise in the mastery of stone
construction, especially for the adjustment of the most important blocks,"
said Marouard in his paper. Marouard also noted that the pyramid was built
directly on the bedrock and was constructed entirely with local raw materials.
The quarry where the sandstone was extracted was discovered in 2011, and is
located only about a half mile (800 m) north of the pyramid.
The growth of a modern-day cemetery and village poses a
danger to the newly uncovered pyramid. In order to help prevent further
looting, a fence was built around the structure, thanks to financial assistance
from the American Research Center in Egypt and the National Endowment for the
Humanities.
Graffiti and child
burials
As the team uncovered
the pyramid, they found that inscriptions had been incised on its outer faces.
They include hieroglyphic depictions of a book roll, a
seated man, a four-legged animal, a reed leaf and a bird.
"These are mostly
private and rough inscriptions, and certainly dedicated to the child/babies'
burials located right under these inscriptions at the foot of the
pyramid," Marouard told Live Science in an email. One of the inscriptions
appears to mean "head of the house" and may be a reference to the
mother of a buried child.
Marouard said his team
would be publishing these burials and images in more detail in the
future.
A pyramid abandoned
The archaeologists
found that by the time of the reign of Khufu (the pharaoh who built
the Great Pyramid), ca. 2590-2563 B.C., the pyramid at Edfu had been abandoned,
and offerings were no longer being made. This occurred less than 50 years after
its construction, Marouard said.
This suggests the
seven small pyramids stopped being used when work on the Great Pyramid began.
It seems Khufu no longer thought there was a need to maintain a small pyramid
at Edfu, or elsewhere in southern Egypt, Marouard said. Rather, Khufu focused
all the resources on building the Great Pyramid at Giza, which is close to the
Egyptian capital at Memphis, he added.
Khufu may have felt
politically secure in southern Egypt and saw no need to maintain or build
pyramids there, Marouard said in the email. The "center of gravity of
Egypt was then at Memphis for many centuries — this region draining resources
and manpower from the provinces, all regions being put to use for the large
construction sites of funerary complexes."
At Wadi al-Jarf, a port found on the shore of the Red Sea that
dates to Khufu's time, papyri (written documents) dating to the end of Khufu's
reign were recently discovered that supports the idea that the pharaoh tried to
converge all the resources he could toward Giza and the ancient wonder being
constructed there.
1 comment:
You need to learn to use "having been" or "being" ...please. Seriously.
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