Talking Pyramids

Which Pyramid Would You Most Like to See Open?

Vincent — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 11:01:23 +0000

It’s always fun to have a bit of interaction and feedback from you, the readers of Talking Pyramids. A small part of this interactivity is the poll that appears on the right side, just below the Delicious Links.

The last poll asked what theory you favoured to explain the construction of the Great Pyramid. Among the choices were the traditional single straight ramp, the external spiral ramp and the concrete theory.

The most popular choice was Jean-Pierre’s Internal Spiral ramp theory.

Here are the results:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Now, on to the next poll:

Which pyramid would you most like to see open?

It’s time for a new poll and this time I am asking what pyramid you’d most like to see opened next.

We’ve seen how there have long been plans to open some of the pyramids that are still closed and I’ve mentioned previously that Zahi Hawass has stated that he wanted to open all the pyramids by 2009. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. We’ve also seen how the declared dates of opening of the chambers of Sneferu’s ‘Bent’ pyramid and the ‘Black’ pyramid of Amenemhet III at Dahshur have been repeatedly pushed back and delayed.

Personally, I’d love to see the internal chambers of the Bent pyramid opened to the public so I have kicked off the poll by registering my interest in that pyramid.

Which pyramid would you most like to see open?

Pyramids in the Cosmic Landscape

Vincent — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:17:56 +0000

Giulio Magli was in the news a couple of years ago with his grand plan for Giza, the idea that the three Giza pyramids were arranged to form a line that points to Heliopolis, an important religious center sacred to the sun god.

Last March he was back with an extension of that idea, creating a grid that may indicate the location of the lost pyramid of Userkare at South Saqqara, directly south of Djoser’s Step pyramid.

Now he’s back with “The Cosmic Landscape in the Age of the Pyramids”, which appears in the current issue of the Journal of Cosmology. Here is the abstract:

The pyramids of Egypt are to be counted among the most outstanding works of architecture in the whole of human history. The sites for their construction were chosen in accordance with topographical criteria which, while taking practical needs into account, were also profoundly and intimately connected with Maat, the cosmic order. As a consequence, the pyramid’s fields are criss-crossed by geometrical axes which were – and partially still are – easily perceptible on the ground. In the 4th and the 5th dynasty, such axes ideally connected the monuments with the temple of Heliopolis on the opposite bank of the Nile, while during the 6th dynasty new pyramids were ideally connected with older ones by means of meridian – south to north – alignments. In recent years, the present author attempted to provide a comprehensive analysis of this sacred landscape, and of its astronomical and symbolical interpretation in terms of the “cosmovision” of the ancient Egyptians. The present paper offers a brief but complete overview of the results of this analysis.

Read the full article in the Journal of Cosmology: The Cosmic Landscape in the Age of the Pyramids, by Giulio Magli

Photo from the New York Public Library.

Update on Access to the Pyramid Fields

Vincent — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:34:47 +0000

In the past it has been a struggle to keep up to date with which sites are open to visitors and those that are closed. I keep in regular contact with sources in Egypt as well as travellers who have recently visited the sites. I have used news websites, blogs, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and other online social networks and resources to keep the information on Talking Pyramids up to date. It’s not been an easy task.

Over the weekend, for example, I read that more pyramids are opening to the public. According to the report 14 pyramids at Abusir will be opening to the public, an example of how a lot of the information found online is contradictory and misleading. There are not even that many pyramids located at Abusir, and it is unlikely that all of the pyramids at Abusir will be opening to the public in any case.

Other reports state that the Bent Pyramid’s internal chambers will be opened to the public in December this year, something that Zahi Hawass stated was going to happen in June last year but has been delayed several times.

Pyramids of Abusir

One of my contacts on Twitter, Andrew, who recently gave us an update concerning the fence around the pyramid of Khafre, travelled to Abusir and Dahshur and once again, he very kindly responded to my requests for information. It had been a while since I’d received current information on the status of the pyramids at Abusir so it was great to get an update. Andrew explained the the site is technically closed to the public but planned to open in about two years, according to unofficial sources at Abusir.

Pyramids of Niuserre & Neferirkare at Abusir

I was told a similar story when I first visited Abusir in 1997. Other reports claim that the pyramid field at Abusir will be opening to the public as soon as the end of this month.

Entrance to Sahure's pyramid

Andrew reported that currently the descending passage of the pyramid of Sahure is open and descends for about 10 meters but a locked gate at the bottom prevents any further access. The walls of the passage appear to have been recently plastered over, perhaps a part of current restorations being carried out.

The rest of the pyramids at Abusir have their entrances barred with a metal grill.

Andrew adds:

“Both temple complexes near the three main pyramids were open…and they’re doing restoration work there, too. They’ve added a temp wooden roof to one of the hypostyle halls.”

Pyramids of Dahshur

Dahshur was the next stop and Andrew was able to confirm that the Bent pyramid’s chambers are still not open despite the plans to open them in June last year. The date for opening the internal chambers of the Bent has been pushed back a few times and it seems we will have to wait a while longer before they are made accessible. As I mentioned earlier, recent reports state that these chambers will be opening in December.

A new paved walkway now links the Red pyramid with the Bent pyramid

The Red pyramid is still open and all internal chambers can be accessed. The Red and the Bent pyramids are now linked by a paved walkway, as shown in the photo above.

The Supreme Council of Antiquities

Many, including myself, have wondered why the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) doesn’t keep a list of sites that are currently open to the public as this would make planning a trip to Egypt’s ancient sites much easier for travellers.

Well, that has now changed with the release of the new SCA website! The website is an improvement on the old one, which went offline several years ago, as it includes a lot of information on the status of Egypt’s archaeological sites.

Travellers can learn about the general rules that should be adhered to when visiting the sites, museums & exhibitions in Egypt as well as lectures, events, programs and much more useful information.

Something that I was surprised to learn is that even those pyramids that are closed to the public can be entered if you are willing to pay the required fee. The pyramid of Unas, for example, which Zahi Hawass is understandably very protective over and has been closed for many years, can be accessed for US$1000. The Persian Shaft beneath the Step Pyramid of Djoser is also accessible for the same fee.

Visit the Supreme Council of Antiquities website for more information on what sites are open to the public.

Sources:
SCA’s new website
Photo of Abusir by Jon Bodsworth.
Photo of the Red Pyramid by Bulle Plexiglass.

Update on the Father & Son Tomb Discovery

Vincent — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:24:24 +0000

In the last 24 hours a bit more information on the discovery of what has become known as the ‘Father & Son’ tombs located west of the pyramid of Unas at Saqqara has been released as well as more photos and a video.

An obvious point I missed is the cartouche of Pepi II and the reference to his pyramid written on the right side of the false door inside the tomb: Nefer-ka-Re men ankh, which means ‘Pepi is Established and Living’. Other text on the false doors identified Shendwa and his son Khonsu as royal scribes and “supervisors of the mission,” indicating that they were in charge of delegations overseeing the supply of materials used in the construction of Pepi II’s pyramid.

The video shows the arrangement of the tombs and I was intrigued by the set of ritual instruments that included a pesesh-kef tool used in the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ ceremony, as well as a jar and cup. The stone plate in which these were placed has some pieces missing and it can be observed that the remaining ‘jar’ is solid and doesn’t have a hollow inside, making it practically non-functional as a jar.

Egyptologist Ann Macy Roth explains:

 ”In archaelogical and textual evidence alike, the psš-kf knife consistently occurs as part of the same collection of objects. In the Pyramid Texts, these objects are presented in a sequence that is the earliest attested form of the ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony. The speeches accompanying the presentations suggest that the psš-kf and the objects associated with it were the equipment for a ritual mimicking birth and childhood, and that the role of the psš-kf in this process was to cut the umblical cord of a newborm baby.”  - from “The PSŠ-KF and the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ Ceremony: a Ritual of Birth and Rebirth”

“The psš-kf does not normally occur in isolation. In the Old Kingdom, it was consistently grouped with a set of other objects.”, “the same assemblage of objects: the forked psš-kf knife, two hrts-bottles (one of black and one of white stone), and four or five straight-sided hnt-cups…”, sometimes including “ntrwj-blades”, which were finger shaped.” –  from “Fingers, Stars, and the ‘Opening of the Mouth’: the Nature and Function of the Ntrwj-blades”, also by Ann Macy Roth

It would seem from the image taken from the video that the black stone components of this set are missing, possibly smashed as part of the funerary ritual.

Further reading:
Miniature ‘Opening of the Mouth’ ritual set
Egypt Unveils Discovery Of 4,300-Year-Old Tombs (contains a slide show with many more photos)
Archaeologists unearth ancient Egyptian tomb of father and son (with close up shots of the artifacts discovered).
Press Release – Two new tombs discovered at Saqqara from the website of Dr Zahi Hawass.

Ancient Tomb Discovered Intact at Saqqara

Vincent — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:32:01 +0000

False door from the newly discovered tomb

Two tombs dating to Ancient Egypt’s Sixth Dynasty have been discovered west of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara. The 4200 year-old tombs appear to have belonged to a father and son, named Shendwa and Khonsu respectively.

Inside the father’s was found a beautiful false door (pictured right) with a typical depiction of the deceased in front of an offering table filled with provisions. The accompanying text gives the titles of Shendwa, including ‘cheif of scribes’, ‘overseer of missions’ and other standard titles.

“When I managed to get to the shaft I have found that it was intact as it was difficult to get to and even tomb robbers couldn’t get to it.” – Zahi Hawass

The official SCA press release:

“Two rock-hewn painted tombs considered as two of the most distinguished tombs ever found from the Old Kingdom were discovered last week at Saqqara necropolis. Cultural Minister, Mr. Farouk Hosni, announced today that the tombs were found during a routine excavation carried out by an Egyptian mission at an area called “Gisr El-Mudir” located to the west of the Step Pyramid of Djoser. The team has been working in the area since 1968. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, who is also the leader of the excavation mission, said that the tombs belong to a father, Shendwa, and his son, Khonsu. The father’s tomb consists of a painted false door depicting scenes of the deceased seated before an offering table. The door also bears the different titles of the tomb’s owner who was a top governmental official during the Sixth Dynasty (2374-2191 BC). He was the head of the royal scribes and the supervisor of the missions as well as other honorary titles. The tomb’s burial shaft is located directly beneath the false door, meters below the ground level.

When Dr. Hawass descended into the tomb he realized that it was intact and had not previously been plundered by tomb robbers. Unfortunately Shendwas’s wooden sarcophagus had disintegrated due to humidity and erosion. Beside the sarcophagus, a collection of limestone jars was found including five offering vessels carved in the shape of a duck. Upon opening the vessels, Dr. Hawass discovered that the bones of the ducks were still intact.

Inside the burial shaft a painted relief and a 30 cm tall obelisk made of limestone were also discovered. “This obelisk is a symbol of worshiping the sun god Re,” said Hawass pointing out that the ancient Egyptians of the Old Kingdom used to erect small obelisks in front of their tombs and inside the temples related to the tombs of the Queens’ pyramids. Next to the father’s tomb, excavators discovered Shendwa’s son Khonsu. It is a beautifully painted tomb with a false door bearing Khonsu’s different titles. It appears that Khonsu inherited the same titles as his father. Excavators located an offering table just opposite to the false door as well as a stone lintel on the floor. Hawass said that the lintel is engraved with symbols that belong to the 6th dynasty. On top of the false door, is a small lintel depicting a colored relief of the deceased in different poses.”

More:
Colourful ancient tombs unearthed in Egypt
2 new Pharaonic tombs unearthed in Saqqara
Image: SCA handout

Seeds Found in Pyramid Calibrate Timeline

Vincent — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:07:47 +0000

Scientist have used new radiocarbon dating techniques to precisely lock down the historical chronology of ancient Egypt.

Plant material from various periods of Egypt’s ancient past were dated using the new techniques to verify the accuracy of our current understanding of ancient Egypt’s history.

Seeds over 4,500 years old that were discovered beneath the pyramid of Djoser were tested and the dates of his reign were accurately determined.

Seeds found beneath the pyramid of Djoser give a more accurate chronology

Thomas Higham, another member of the team who is also from the University of Oxford, explained that many items were found in ancient Egyptians’ tombs and other archeological sites “where we could independently determine their historical age”

“We also used seeds from a room underneath the Saqqara step pyramid dated to a specific year of the reign of King Djoser,” he said.

…

Dr Ramsey’s team was able to determine the exact period when this king reigned Egypt – from about 2691 to roughly 2625 BC, said the scientist.

The team found that this particular event took place earlier that previously thought.

“For the first time, radiocarbon dating has become precise enough to constrain the history of ancient Egypt to very specific dates,” said Dr Ramsey.

According to accepted chronologies, such as that developed by Professor John Baines and Dr Jaromir Malek, Djoser reigned from 2630 to 2611 BC.

In an interview with Cosmic Logic Oxford University’s Christopher Bronk Ramsey explains some of the complexities involved:

Cosmic Log: Because the slight discrepancy in dates seems to be systemic (consistently earlier based on radiocarbon data), what might the explanation be? Might there be a systemic factor in the carbon-dating process that puts the top of the curve consistently earlier, or are there selections of key dates (based on astronomical or other dating techniques) that throw things off systemically?

Bronk Ramsey: It depends on exactly what you mean here. Are you referring to the fact that the radiocarbon chronology is earlier than some of the historical chronologies? If so, I’d point out that the chronology is very similar to the consensus published by Shaw and for the New Kingdom. Our results for, e.g., Tutankhamun are both very precise and just where you would expect them to be.

If you are referring (as I suspect) to the fact that the radiocarbon dates lie, on average, just above the calibration curve in our fits, this is an issue that we investigated in some detail. This effect is also seen for material from the last few centuries (plant specimens taken by botanists in the 18th and 19th centuries). The reason for this is, we think, due to the fact that the amount of radiocarbon in the atmosphere varies in a regular way during the year. There is less in the winter and more in the summer. In Egypt, the plants in the Nile Valley tend to grow in the winter, when the floods come, and this means that the radiocarbon ratio is slightly lower than for plants in, for example, Northern Europe where the calibration data comes from. The effect of this is that the dates in Egypt are on average about 20 years older.

Millions of Mummies and Sneferu’s Pyramid

Vincent — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 03:16:26 +0000

Statue of Sneferu in the Egyptian Museum

Why are there a million mummies buried near Sneferu’s pyramid at Seila?

That is the question being asked by researchers from Brigham Young University.

Last year Professor Kerry Muhlestein stated that he believed the team had uncovered evidence of a unified plan and suggested we need to adjust our understanding of what the intended purpose of pyramids was.

In January the team of professionals, professors and a few students from BYU set out to map Sneferu’s fourth pyramid using GPS and continue their excavation of an ancient cemetery located nearby.

Now the team is back in the news with the quest to find out why there are, by their own estimates, over one million mummies buried there.

“We estimate over a million bodies in this cemetery…it’s very very densely populated by mummies…only a small percentage of them have been unearthed…

We’ve been digging there for 30 years and we could dig there for a hundred more and still have only done a small percentage.” – Professor Kerry Muhlestein.

These burials are not contemporary with Sneferu’s reign however, with most being from the Graeco-Roman period thousands of years later. Nor was it a local cemetery as many of the bodies are believed to have been brought from other villages.

Muhlestein continues:

“It’s such a huge cemetery it’s hard to account for where all these people would have lived – the population centres around there don’t seem to substantiate that many burials…

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

It probably is at least partially responsible for why there’s a cemetery there…

It seems very reasonable to suppose that the pyramid designated that as a sacred place.

“Once that place is a sacred place it typically will remain a sacred place.”

As well as the pyramid at Seila, Sneferu has three other pyramids built. These include the ‘Red’ pyramid & the ‘Bent’ pyramid at Dahshur, and the ‘Collapsed’ or ‘False’ pyramid at Meidum.