Talking Pyramids

Scene from the Mastaba of Mereruka.

Head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, yesterday announced the discovery of another pyramid at Saqqara.

This brings the number of pyramids discovered in Egypt to 118, the last one being that of Menkahor, which was rediscovered about five months ago.

The Pyramid is thought to belong to Sesheshet, mother of king Teti, the first King of the Sixth Dynasty who’s pyramid is also located at Saqqara. Egyptologist intend to enter the pyramid in two weeks to look for inscriptions to determine whether or not this pyramid belonged to Queen Sesheshet. According to Hawass, the only queen who’s pyramid has not been found is Sesheshet, further supporting the possibility that this pyramid belongs to her.

Teti’s pyramid, situated to the north of the step pyramid of Djoser, is accompanied by two smaller pyramids built for his two wives, Queen Khuit and Queen Iput. On the north side of Teti’s pyramid are the mastabas of Meryteti, Mereruka, Kagemni and Ankhmahor.

The newly discovered pyramid currently stands only 16 feet tall having lost much of it’s top section but was originally about 44 feet tall and roughly 72 feet on each side.

Excavation of the site has been carried out over the past two years but it was only two months ago that the pyramid was discovered after almost 20 meters of sand covering the pyramid was cleared.

Although the Archaeologists working on on the site have not yet entered the pyramid, a gouge in the top of the pyramid suggests that it was most likely broken into in ancient times by tomb robbers.

National Geographic video of the excavation of Sesheshet's pyramid.

Other Sources:
Discovery News (includes a photo of the pyramid)
CBC

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Tags: Saqqara, sesheshet

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 11:03 am and is filed under Discovery, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.