Video of Menkauhor’s Pyramid Discovery
More on the discovery of the pyramid of Menkauhor at Saqqara, a video from the National Geographic website:
From today’s story in the Guardian:
“In 1842, German archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius mentioned it among his finds at Saqqara, referring to it as number 29 and calling it the “Headless Pyramid” because only its base remains. But the desert sands covered the discovery, and no archaeologist since has been able to find Menkauhor’s resting place.
“We have filled the gap of the missing pyramid,” Hawass told reporters on a tour of the discoveries at Saqqara, the necropolis and burial site of the rulers of ancient Memphis, the capital of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, about 12 miles south of Cairo…”
“…The pyramid’s base - or the superstructure as archeologists call it - was found after a 25-foot-high mound of sand was removed over the past year and a half by Hawass’ team.
Hawass said the style of the pyramid indicates it was from the Fifth Dynasty, a period that began in 2,465 B.C. and ended in 2,325 B.C. That would put it about two centuries after the completion of the Great Pyramid of Giza, believed to have been finished in 2,500 B.C.
Another proof of its date, Hawass says, was the discovery inside the pyramid of a gray granite lid of a sarcophagus, of the type used at that time.
The rectangular base, at the bottom of a 15 foot-deep pit dug out by workers, gives little indication of how imposing the pyramid might have once been. Heaps of huge rocks, many still partially covered in sand and dust, mark the pyramid’s walls and entrance, and a burial chamber was discovered inside.
Archaeologists have not found a cartouche - a pharaoh’s name in hieroglyphs - of the pyramid’s owner. But Hawass said that based on the estimated date of the pyramid he was convinced it belonged to Menkauhor.
Work continues at the site, where Hawass said he expected to unearth “subsidiary” pyramids around Menkauhor’s main one, and hoped to find inscriptions there to back up his claim.”
More photos and information at The Plateau - the Official Website of Dr Zahi Hawass
Tags: menkauhor, Saqqara, sarcophagus
