Pyramid G1-d | |
---|---|
Khufu | |
Coordinates | 29°58′41.1″N31°8′8.7″E / 29.978083°N 31.135750°E |
Constructed | c. 2600 BC |
Type | True Pyramid |
Height | 13.8 meters (original) |
Base | 21.75 meters (original) |
Location of pyramid in Egypt |
Pyramid G1-d (also known as 'G1d', 'GI-d', 'GId' or 'G Id') is a satellite pyramid within the Khufu pyramid complex on the Giza plateau.
The pyramid was discovered in 1992, during work to remove a road, about 25 metres (82 ft) east-southeast of the southeast corner of the Great Pyramid (G1), [1] and about 7 metres (23 ft) west of the subsidiary pyramids G1-b and G1-c.
The pyramid's original base length was 21.75 metres (71.4 ft), with a height of 13.8 metres (45 ft). Joseph Dorner established the mean slope to be about 51°45', very similar to that of the Great Pyramid. This equates to a seked of 5 palms and 2 fingers, a ratio of 28 rise to 22 run. [2]
The blocks that remained in situ surrounded the substructure in a U-shape. The bedrock below the pyramid slopes downward to the east and south, hence a layer of foundation stones was placed to form an even base.
One of the core blocks of the south side was inscribed in red paint on the inside surface. The notation says, "imy rsy s3". This graffito, meaning "on the south (back) side", probably instructed the stone movers where to place the block. [3]
Multiple casing blocks were found out of position, scattered around the pyramid. One of these, slanted on three sides, was one of a pair of blocks that once formed the third course from the top. It is 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 0.56 metres (1.8 ft) thick, and its top side is hollowed, to hold the convex underside of the stone(s) placed above it. [4]
No stones of the second course from the top remained, yet in 1993, the actual pyramidion was discovered accidentally, north of the pyramid, by assistant Alla el-Din Shaat. Its underside is faceted, four triangles forming a shallow downward pyramid. It is the second oldest capstone of a pyramid ever found; the earliest belonged to the Red Pyramid of Sneferu at Dahshur. [1]
The top three courses were reconstructed by Miss Nivien Mohamed Mustafa, four metres north of the pyramid. [5] The foundation and parts of the first course of the pyramid were restored as well, with newly carved limestone blocks. [6]
The substructure consists of an inclined passage of 25–28° which runs north to south. It starts 3.75 metres (12.3 ft) inwards from the pyramid's base line, indicating that the original entrance lay somewhat above the ground level on the north face.
This corridor, two cubits (1.05 metres (3.4 ft)) wide, runs for a length of 10 cubits (5.25 metres (17.2 ft)), until it terminates 0.55 metres (1.8 ft) above the floor of a chamber extending to the east and west. Together they form a T-shaped structure that matches satellite pyramids subsequent to this one.
A distinct cutting in the chamber floor at its entrance may have held a plugging stone. [7] Alternatively, it may have held an angled stone which continued the ramp down to the chamber floor. [8]
The floor measures about 15 by 6.5 cubits, or 7.92 metres (26.0 ft) long (east to west) by 3.4 metres (11 ft). Traces of mortar hint at a pavement now missing.
The walls of the chamber were not smoothed or polished, and are slightly inclined, narrowing towards the former ceiling. Four small holes in opposing walls at the west end suggest that two beams spanned this end of the chamber. Hawass speculates that they could have been intended for lowering or covering an object. [7]
The purpose of the pyramid is under debate by scholars. Some possible explanations are that it is for the king's ka, or it represents the king as the ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt, or it is for the viscera of the king, or it is a dummy room for the Sed festival, or it has a solar function. Zahi Hawass, who led the uncovering of the pyramid, believed that the satellite pyramid was used symbolically as a changing room for the Sed festival. [9]
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G1-b is one of the subsidiary pyramids of the Giza East Field of the Giza Necropolis immediately to the eastern side of the Great Pyramid of Giza, built during the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt. It is the central of the three pyramids of the queens, located ten meters south of the Pyramid G1-a. It has a base of 50 meters and had an original height of 30 meters. Egyptologists Mark Lehner and Rainer Stadelmann attribute it to the queen Meritites I. Zahi Hawass, however, attributes it to Queen Noubet, who gave birth to Djedefre. It is one of the queen pyramids near Pyramid Khufu along with the other two queen pyramids Pyramid G1-a and Pyramid G1-c, along with another smaller pyramid called Pyramid G1-d.
G1-c is one of the subsidiary pyramids of the Giza East Field of the Giza Necropolis immediately to the eastern side of the Great Pyramid of Giza, built during the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt. It is the southern of the three pyramids of the queens and is the one of Queen Henutsen. It is 46.25 metres wide and had a height of 29.60 metres. A niche, four inches deep was dug in the south wall of the burial chamber. Pyramid G1-c was originally not a part of Khufu's pyramid complex, as its southern side is aligned not with the side of the Great Pyramid, but with Khufukhaf I's mastaba tomb nearby. Pyramid G1-c was at some point thought to possibly be a satellite pyramid, because it did not come with a boat pit like pyramids G1-a and G1-b. It was later determined to be an unfinished pyramid which was constructed in a hurry. Henutsen is thought to have been buried in the tomb. Dr. Rainer Stadelmann believes Khufukhaf is the same person as Khafra and the pyramid was built by him for his mother, but this identification is doubtful.
The Headless Pyramid, otherwise identified as Lepsius XXIX, is the remain of a pyramid complex built in Saqqara. The identity of the pyramid owner is unclear, though it is suspected to belong to either pharaoh Menkauhor of the Fifth Dynasty or pharaoh Merikare of the Tenth Dynasty, both of whom are known to have built a pyramid. If associated with Menkauhor, the pyramid's name is Nṯr-ỉswt Mn-kꜣw-ḥr meaning 'Divine are the places of Menkauhor'; if associated with Merikare, the pyramid's name is Wꜣḏ-swt Mry-kꜣ-rꜥ meaning 'Fresh are the places of Merikare'. Other candidates for the pyramid owner that have been proposed are Amenemhat I of the Twelfth Dynasty and an ephemeral pharaoh Ity of the Eighth Dynasty.
The Khufu Statuette or the Ivory figurine of Khufu is an ancient Egyptian statue. Historically and archaeologically significant, it was found in 1903 by Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie during excavation of Kom el-Sultan in Abydos, Egypt. It depicts Khufu, a Pharaoh of the Fourth dynasty, and the builder of the Great Pyramid, though it may have been carved much later, in the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty, 664 BC–525 BC.
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The pyramid of Pepi II was the tomb of Pharaoh Pepi II, located in southern Saqqara, to the northwest of the Mastabat al-Fir’aun. It was the final full pyramid complex to be built in Ancient Egypt. Long used as a quarry, the pyramid was excavated for the first time by Gaston Maspero in 1881. Its ruins were studied in exhaustive detail by Gustave Jéquier, who was able to reconstruct the funerary complex and the texts on the walls of the funerary chamber in the course of his excavation campaigns from 1932-1935. Since 1996, thorough investigations of the pyramid and its surroundings have been being carried out by the Mission a.
The Lepsius L Pyramid is the remain of a pyramid complex built in Dahshur, approximately 250 m (820 ft) east of the Red Pyramid of pharaoh Sneferu of the Fourth Dynasty. The identity of the pyramid owner is unknown. The site was initially visited by Karl Richard Lepsius during his 1842–45 expedition to Egypt. He provided a brief description and catalogued it as 'Steinpyramide L' in his pyramid list. The site was then excavated by Rainer Stadelmann in 1986.