Has Userkare’s Lost Pyramid Been Found?
The location of the lost pyramid of Userkare may have been found with a little help from Djoser and some clever aligning.
Professor of archaeoastronomy at Milan’s Polytechnic University, Giulio Magli has come up with a theory using new astronomical and topographical research to create a grid that connects up some of the major pyramids at Saqqara and South Saqqara.
Following on the heels of his announcement last year that the pyramids of Giza form a line aligned with Heliopolis, the professor is now tackling the search for the 4,300 tomb of the mysterious king Userkare.
Magi describes the grid:
“We are talking of meridian and diagonal alignments, with pyramids raised at their intersections. The only missing piece in this sort of grid is the pyramid of Userkare.”
Userkare is named along with other 6th Dynasty Kings in king lists and is mentioned on the South Saqqara Stone, the basalt sarcophagus lid of queen Ankhesenpepi from Pepi II’s reign, which was inscribed with a list for the reigns of the kings of the 6th dynasty.
On the stone Userkare is listed as the second King ruling between Teti and Pepi I and it is thought that he may have been involved in the conspiracy to murder Teti as he was a rival to Teti for the throne. In the Turin King List, there is a gap between Teti and Pepi I which may have once held the name of Userkare. He was only in power for a couple of years and he was replaced by Pepi I.
According to Magli:
“When Pepi I took control a few years later, Userkare disappeared from history. Finding his tomb might help understand those obscure years. The walls in his burial might also contain intact copies of the Pyramid Texts”
Magli explains his theory:
“Diagonal axes — generally oriented northeast by southwest — governed Giza, Abusir and the Saqqara central field. But we have a different pattern with some 6th dynasty kings: their funerary monuments in South Saqqara appear to have been planned according to meridian, north-south axes”
Putting aside the topographical restrictions that would also have influenced the choice of site and looking strictly at the co-ordinates alone to analyse the raw data we can see that Magli’s theory seems to have some credence. The longitudinal figures appear to be accurate with four pyramids in Saqqara lining up with the nominated corresponding pyramids directly south in South Saqqara.
Longitudes:
Sekhemkhet: 31.213063 E
Pepi II: 31.213664 E
Unas: 31.215005 E
Merenre: 31.215219 E
Djoser: 31.216818 E
Userkare: ??
Userkaf: 31.218996 E
Pepi I: 31.219007 E
It should also be noted that the alignment of Merenre and Unas is slightly off and that the pyramid of Sekhemkhet is quite difficult to pinoint due to its collapsed state. Pyramids that don’t fit the alignment, such as that of Djedkare-Isesi, are not included on the theoretical grid. Connecting the pyramids with a straight line to create the “Saqqara Diagonal” appears problematic and Magli addresses this in his paper:
It is a line oriented roughly SW-NE (it is difficult to ascertain its azimuth precisely, because the corners of the pyramids are not cleared, but it can be estimated as being ~48° north of east) might have been inaugurated by Userkaf. He placed his pyramid near the north-east corner of Djoser’s precinct. In this way he aligned the south-east corner of his pyramid with the south- east corner of Djoser’s pyramid and the north-west corner of Sekhemkhet’s unfinished pyramid. It should be noted however that perhaps this “inhomogeneous” alignment was not intentional: the Sekhemkhet’s pyramid originally had a high enclosure wall, and the pyramid itself might have been already buried at Unas’ time (Fakhry 1974).
Magli continues on the topic of the north-south meridian alignments:
“It is difficult to think that this rigorous meridian structure is just a coincidence. However something does not match in this pattern: no pyramid aligned with the Step Pyramid of Djoser, by far the most important and revered pyramid at Saqqara.”
“There could be a simple explanation: the position in meridian alignment with the Step Pyramid was not free at all, being occupied by Userkare’s complex.”
Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev from the French Institute of Archaeology in Cairo has been looking for Userkare’s tomb and believes it is so important that the Sixth Dynasty’s history cannot be explained without it. Dobrev also believes Userkare will be discovered at South Saqqara but not in the area where Magli expects to find it. Dobrev is not seeing any evidence of the remains of Userkare’s tomb on the ‘Djoser meridian’, not on the ground at least.
Instead, he is looking at an area 15-hectare area in Tabbet al-Guesh, where he has uncovered a number of tombs of 6th Dynasty priests.
Dobrev sees the existence of these tombs as an indication of a pyramid being close by as a king’s burial place was usually accompanied by priests and officials.
“These priests come to this place to serve the cult of a dead king. We do not have the name of Userkare yet, because the priests speak systematically about the ‘King, their God.’ They obviously refer to the dead king, [of] whom everybody knew the name…”
Interestingly, Magli’s calculated position of Userkare’s pyramid seems to have been indicated as a possible location of a pyramid many years earlier.
Karl Richard Lepsius, who mapped out the region in detail in the middle of the nineteenth century had the advantage of seeing the area at a time when the lay of the land was quite different. Since his time shifting sands have altered the landscape quite a bit. One of the pyramids marked on his map as pyramid 29 was lost as the sands later covered that area. The pyramid remained lost until 2008 when a team led by Dr Hawass located and uncovered it. It has been identified as belonging to a 5th Dynasty king named Menkauhor.
Referring back to Lepsius’ map of the South Saqqara area, we can see that very close to Magli’s proposed position for the pyramid of Userkare is what looks like the foundations of a small pyramid:
Does Lepsius’ map once again reveal the existence of a lost pyramid as it did with Menkauhor’s pyramid? Is Magli right? Does the pyamid of Userkare lie waiting under the sand at this point? Or will will Dobrev’s team uncover the pyramid further north at Tabbet al-Guesh?
Magli’s research will appear in the next issue of the journal Mediterranean Archaeology and Archaeometry.
Sources:
Discovery News: Pyramid of Mystery Pharaoh Possibly Located
Guilio Magli’s paper: Topography, astronomy and dynastic history in the alignments of the pyramid fields of the Old Kingdom.
Early Dynastic Egypt: The South Saqqara Stone
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