Description
The pyramid consists of three steps and has a side length of 18.60 meters. Its height is still 8.25 meters today, although Perring and Vyse measured it in the mid-19th century at 11.75 meters. It consists of a core building with a side length of approximately 10.20 meters, around which two shells of 4.5 ells thickness each are arranged. A special feature of this pyramid is that its corners, and not its sides as is customary in Egyptian pyramids, are aligned with the cardinal directions. The explanation for this surely lies in the fact that its eastern side is oriented towards the course of the Nile, which flows here quite precisely to the northwest. The pyramid was constructed using locally sourced limestone as building material. The individual blocks are only roughly hewn and measure up to 60 by 100 cm. They are stacked in courses with an average thickness of 35 cm. A mixture of clay, Nile silt, sand and small limestone chips served as mortar.
On the northwest side there is a cut about eight meters deep, which was made at the end of the 19th century in an attempt to access a suspected burial chamber that was not present. It is unclear who made this cut, it has been attributed to Gaston Maspero, who excavated in el-Kula around 1900, as well as to Edouard Naville, who worked there in 1884. However, the cut can already be seen in a photo that was taken in 1882, according to Maspero's information.
Function
The builder and function of the pyramid are unknown. Günter Dreyer and Werner Kaiser consider it, along with the other pyramids mentioned above, to be part of a cohesive building project by Pharaoh Huni, the last ruler of the 3rd Dynasty. Andrzej Ćwiek agrees but suspects Huni's successor Snofru (ca. 2670–2620 BCE), the founder of the 4th Dynasty, as the builder. Speculations about the function of the pyramids range from being a representation site of the king to a depiction of the primeval mound or a symbol of the political and religious unity of the country, to being cenotaphs of the royal consorts.
A completely different theory was proposed in 1994 by American Robert E. Womack. He sees the Pyramid of el-Kula as evidence of Mesopotamian influence on Egypt, basing this on the fact that the corners and not the sides of the pyramid are aligned with the cardinal directions, as is also the case with the Mesopotamian ziggurats. Although there were apparently quite intensive relations between the two cultures in the pre- and early dynastic period, Womack's theory did not find support among Egyptologists, since the orientation of the pyramid was very likely based on the course of the Nile, as is also the case with the other six pyramids in this group.
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The pyramid of Elephantine is part of a group of seven very similar small step pyramids, along with the pyramids at Edfu South, el-Kula, Naqada, Saujet el-Meitin, Seila, and Sinki. All of these were built far from the main centres of Egypt and are very poorly understood. The pyramid of Elephantine is located in the northwest part of the Old Kingdom city on the south end of the island of Elephantine in the Nile. The structure was discovered in 1907, but it could only be identified as a pyramid after excavations by the German Archaeological Institute in 1978–79.
The Edfu South pyramid is part of a group of seven very similar small step pyramids which were all built far from the main centres of Egypt and about which very little is known, along with the pyramids of Elephantine, el-Kula, Naqada, Saujet el-Meitin, Sinki and Seila. It is located about five kilometres south of Edfu near Naga el-Ghoneimeya. It was first identified as a pyramid in 1979, when the German archaeologists Günter Dreyer and Werner Kaiser were leading a survey of Edfu after a tip off from the inspector. Further investigation and surveys of the surrounding area have been undertaken since 2010 by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
The pyramid of Naqada, also called the pyramid of Ombos, is part of a group of seven very similar small step pyramids, which were all erected far from the major centres of Egypt and about which very little is known. It is located about 300 metres north of the ruins of the ancient site of Ombos, near the modern city of Naqada in Upper Egypt. The first excavation was undertaken in 1895 by Flinders Petrie and James Edward Quibell.
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.
Ny-Hor was a possible pharaoh from the Predynastic Period. His name means "The Hunter" according to egyptologist Werner Kaiser. He may have ruled during the 31st century BC.
The pyramid of Seila is one of a group of seven small step pyramids which are very similar to one another, along with the Edfu South pyramid, the pyramid of Elephantine, the pyramid of El-Kula, the pyramid of Naqada, the pyramid of Saujet el-Meitin, and the pyramid of Sinki. These pyramids were all built far from the major centres of Egypt and very little is known about them. The pyramid is located on an outcrop between the Faiyum Oasis and the Nile Valley, about 6 km north of the motorway from Wasta to Faiyum. Its builder may have been Snefru, the founder of the Fourth Dynasty. It was discovered in 1889/1890 by Flinders Petrie and revisited in 1898 by Ludwig Borchardt.
