Description: The Rhomboidal Pyramid or the Bent Pyramid is one of the most unusual and remarkable monuments of Egypt. It stands out among other pyramids because of its unique rhombus-shaped form and almost perfectly preserved casing stones. It has two entrances, two funeral chambers, and there is a double slope of its outer faces - these extraordinary characteristics allow calling it “The Double Pyramid”. Because of the rare features, it establishes some kind of mathematical perfection and attracts the researchers from various fields of study. However, so far there is no generally shared idea among scientists why the Bent Pyramid is shaped that way. Alternative names: Rhomboidal Pyramid,Blunt Pyramid,False Pyramid,Southern Pyramid of Dahshur,Double-Sloping Pyramid. Lepsius No: 56 Type: Bent Pyramid Location: Dahshur Country: Egypt
The Bent Pyramid at southern Dahshur is the second of the three great pyramids built for Snefru, the first pharaoh of Dynasty IV. Chronological calculations show that Snefru ruled for a maximum of 46 years. It is known that Snefru laid the foundations of the Red Pyramid in the 15th census year, and the latest census, dating back to his reign, is the 24th year. Another inscription from the 15th census was found on the foundation block of the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid, and this suggets that the Bent Pyramid had been completed or almost completed in its present form by that time. Many dated quarry marks, similar to those found at Dahshur, have been found at the Pyramid at Meidum. The dates show a lot of heterogeneity, and they all fall between the 7th and 23rd census.
The Bent Pyramid is located on the northern plateau near the Faiyum depression and marks the southern limit of the Memphis necropolis.
Snefru's name is mentioned on the Pyramid blocks among quarrie marks, sometimes it appears as a 'Snefru' cartouche, and sometimes as his Horus name 'Neb-Maat'.
Petrie did not know which kingdom the construction of the Pyramid should be attributed to. The similarity of some stages of construction with the pyramids at Giza led him to believe that the Bent Pyramid belonged to Dynasty IV. The work, undoubtedly, is of much higher quality than that of the pyramids of Dynasties V and VI at Saqqara. Perhaps the Pyramid belongs to the period of Dynasty XII. On one of the blocks of the Pyramid, a fragment of a cartouche was discovered, most of which has been dressed away, and among all possible names this certainly would correspond only to Ra-ma-(kheru), Amenemhat IV.
The Pyramid was previously attributed to Huni, a Dynasty III pharaoh who died about fifty years before the construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza. The name of Snefru (i.e. Neb Maat), the first pharaoh of Dynasty IV, was found on the north-east corner stone of the pyramid, and his cartouche (which depicts one of his other names) was found on one of the stone blocks just below the floor of the upper chamber, where the robbers had made a passage. This discovery refuted the previously asserted theory that the northern and southern stone pyramids (Red and Bent Pyramids) belonged to Snefru and Huni, respectively.
Unlike the pharaohs who built the pyramids on the Giza Plateau, which were almost entirely ignored by the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom, the cult of Sneferu took root and flourished in subsequent times. This cult was centered in the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid. Why this was so is not quite clear. Perhaps this was because the Bent Pyramid complex was fully completed. Although Sneferu most likely was not buried in the Pyramid, his name was written on various steles, according to which his life still continued.
In the text of one of the decrees of Pharaoh Pepi I, found at Dahshur, two hieroglyphs meaning 'pyramid' appear after the name of Snefru. Perhaps this is how the ancient Egyptian scribe wanted to designate a 'double pyramid'. In another part of the decree, this series of symbols is used to designate the pyramid town of Snefru as 'the city of two pyramids' (that is, the Bent and Red Pyramids). As R. Stadelmann showed, the Bent Pyramid became an important part of the cult of the deceased ruler, and in relation to the real burial place - the Red Pyramid - served as a 'southern tomb'.
A small brick building, the so-called northern sanctuary, was originally connected to the northern wall of the Pyramid. An open cult sanctuary at the base of the eastern edge of the Pyramid on the east-west axis was probably later built. It consisted of an altar in the form of an 'htp' sign made of three limestone blocks, as well as two monolithic limestone steles, each 9 m high, on its northern and southern sides. The latter was engraved with the name of Pharaoh Snefru in a cartouche and his titles: Horus Nebmaat, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Two Ladies Nebmaat and Golden Horus (according to A. Fakhry). The remains of one of the steles are now on display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The sanctuary was surrounded by protective mudbrick walls and reconstructed as a small simple temple.
The temple was probably originally planned to be small: a little chapel or canopy, open to the east and west, under which lay a limestone slab with an offering table. However, the temple underwent several structural changes. When clearing it, a monumental inscription of the name Snefru inside a cartouche was found in fragments of limestone, as well as parts of his name Neb-Maat, contained in a serekh and crowned with a falcon. These fragments were found in ruins around the top of two steles. The two unmarked steles still standing in this temple are the lower part of the monumental steles, which rose to a height of about nine meters, the upper parts of which had inscriptions and rounded tops.
Based on archaeological research, H. Ricke proposes the following sequence for the creation of the upper temple, taking into account brick buildings, plastered walls and other details: two huge steles, a sacrificial table in the form of an 'htp' sign and a limestone pavement belong to the 1st to the 3rd period of the temple's construction. The steles, which originally rose about 9 m above the ground, were installed deep into the foundation of large blocks and only after their installation were the inscriptions and images smoothly processed and carved. During the excavations, fragments of the relief with very large hieroglyphic symbols and a falcon were found. The sacrifice table made of three limestone blocks. The protective ceiling over the offering table was probably not originally planned. In order to create a place for a permanent worship, brick buildings in the form of a rectangular hall with an entrance from the south were added to the originally open place of sacrifice. In this form, the temple was the predecessor of the upper temple of the Pyramid at Meidum. The 4th and 6th periods of the construction of the temple were most likely carried out during the Middle Kingdom, when the cult of Pharaoh Snofru resumed in the lower temple, and the upper temple for sacrifices was significantly expanded with mudbrick buildings.
In the middle of the east side of the Bent Pyramid is a small chapel (upper temple). Most likely, the chapel was intended as a simple sanctuary for the Pyramid, which Sneferu completed as a cenotaph. The chapel was originally a very simple structure, consisting of two walls of fine limestone from Tura, covered with slabs, which were expanded with mudbrick walls. Inside it was a sacrificial place, consisting of a slab shaped like the 'htp' hieroglyph, a stylized loaf of bread on a reed mat. Behind him were two steles with rounded tops, from which pedestals have survived, on which there were hieroglyphs with the names of Sneferu.
The lower temple is oriented from south to north and has a rectangular layout. The temple consisted of two sheltered buildings separated by a courtyard. The southern facade of the temple was flanked by two rounded steles bearing the name of Snofru.
A causeway, with walls made of Tura limestone, led from the Pyramid complex to the valley (lower) temple. The Valley Temple is a small rectangular structure that is not located in a river valley, but far up in a narrow valley that may have been partially flooded during the flood season. Two steles with the name of the king stood in the southern corners of the temple. On the back wall of the temple were six statues of Sneferu striding forward. In front of the statues and, curiously, blocking the visibility of these statues, there were two rows (five in each row) of rectangular pillars. On the walls of the courtyard were carved the earliest images of the king's servants carrying offerings to the statues of Sneferu. The second causeway probably led from the lower temple to the quay.
The Valley Temple is located at the lower end of the causeway. The temple consists, with the exception of later extensions, of two parts: a small front courtyard and the temple itself an independent structure. The front courtyard of the temple is surrounded by a low limestone wall that perfectly matches the side walls of the causeway. The entrance to the courtyard is on the east side. To the south of the front yard, at each of its two outer corners, there was a stele about 5 m high, one of which was almost completely preserved. The masonry consists of rather large blocks of the Tura limestone, with numerous stone patches. Unlike all valley temples known to this day, this temple is facing south, and its axis runs from south to north. The entrance was closed by a single-winged gate. Conventionally, the temple can be divided into three parts: 1. the front part, which consists of five open rooms of almost the same size; 2. the central part, or courtyard, about 21 m wide and 18 m deep; 3. the back, which includes a row of six chapels and a vestibule open in front with two rows of five columns each. Since the chapels are very similar to each other, it is likely that each of them had a raised back wall with a niche for the statue.
The lower temple has a rectangular layout, oriented from south to north, and it is built of fine white limestone. The entrance was in the middle of the southern facade, framed by wooden columns with banners. The temple was reconstructed during the Middle Kingdom, and a limestone stele taken from the nearby tomb of Snefru's son, Netjeraperef, was used to frame the door. The temple is divided into three parts of the same size. The reliefs of the temple are rated among the finest works of art from the 4th Dynasty. The northern part of the temple consists of a portico with 10 limestone columns arranged in two rows. They had bas-reliefs depicting a ruler participating in the rituals of the Sed festival, and the undecorated parts of the columns were painted red. The entire temple was surrounded by a huge mudbrick wall.
The temple is oriented along the north-south axis and has one main entrance located on the east side. The entrance leads into a long open corridor running into the actual space of the temple. At the end of the corridor, an ascending causeway begins. The temple is built from large blocks of limestone and has an entrance in the middle of the southern facade from an open corridor. The temple consists of the following elements: 1. central hall, with two chambers on each side; 2. the northern exit from the hall leads to a wide open courtyard, on the north side of which there are six chapels framed by two rows of five columns. Later, the temple was used as a quarry, which is the fate of most of the pyramid temples, so it was very poorly preserved. The decorated parts of the temple were as follows: the central hall, columns, the east and west sides of the portico, the chapel. The temple was rebuilt and used during the Middle Kingdom. Some dwellings, built of mudbricks, were discovered in front of the southern entrance to the temple, as well as in the open courtyard; these buildings date from the New Kingdom and therefore show that this place has been in use for a long time. The stone temple is surrounded by a large mudbrick wall. Fragments of wall reliefs dating back to the Snefru period, as well as other statues dating from the Old and Middle Kingdoms, have been found in the temple. A large number of fragments of statues and figurines were found in the temple, the most important of which are two large broken statues of Pharaoh Snefru wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt. The temple must have already been abandoned as a place of worship during the 18th-19th dynasties, as its courtyard was then used for dwellings. The cult of King Snefru did not end in late Middle Kingdom times, because there are some monuments that refer to the continuation of this cult until the reign of the Ptolemies.
The causeway exited from the southwestern corner of the valley temple, had no roof, and on its sides were low stone walls that rounded up and sloped slightly outward.
A causeway, made up of blocks from the Mokattam quarry, led from the northeastern corner of the enclosure to a small valley that extended to the plain below.
The causeway began at the northeastern corner of the enclosure wall and ran in the same direction to the lower temple.
The causeway was fenced with stone walls.
From the front of the gat, a causeway runs to the north-east in the direction of + 54° 41'. Reaching the edge of the plateau, about a hundred yards from the gate, the causeway turns more eastwards and descends down a gentle slope into the valley toward the river. The causeway was built of fine white limestone, but only part of one edge was found at its original place.
The causeway was not excavated but remained visible. On the surface of the desert there was a wide strip of limestone debris that descended from the north side of the enclosure wall and continued for about 700 meters, ending in the middle of the valley. In the valley there was a wide surface covered with limestone debris - where the valley (lower) temple was located. The causeway was paved with mudbricks on top of limestone slabs, and there were walls on the sides. The causeway had no roof.
The causeway was only partially explored, since only its upper and lower ends were excavated. The causeway itself was just over 3 m wide and consisted of a screed of Nile silt on top of a layer of limestone chips, without any final coating. The well-fortified side walls were made of limestone, as was the enclosure wall around the Pyramid. The walls were 2 m thick and only 1.90 m high, with steep sloping surfaces, and covered with beveled stones on top. The causeway runs towards the northern entrance of the Pyramid, but then enters the complex at a right angle with a sharp bend from the north, approximately 50 m west of its northeastern corner. At the point where the causeway enters the pyramid complex with a sharp bend, a small space was built on each side. As in the upper part and in the lower part of the causeway, the passage was probably closed by two-winged gates. In general, the causeway so strongly resembles the causeway on the eastern side of the Pyramid at Meidum that it can be assumed that it was also built by Pharaoh Snofru.
A enclosure wall surrounded the Bent Pyramid on all sides.
A huge enclosure wall made of yellowish-gray limestone surrounded the entire complex of the Bent Pyramid. It encircled a long square courtyard, in the northeastern corner of which there was a causeway paved with limestone blocks and descending to the valley temple.
In the southeast corner of the enclosure was a small mound of rubble. During the excavations, the western wall of the house built in this part of the enclosure was found under the hill. This house is part of a large complex of buildings, with mudbrick walls, plastered and whitewashed. The surviving walls rise to a height of about four meters, which are completely buried under the flat surface of the desert. This confirms the fact that suggests the possibility of the existence of many other buildings in this large area. No items were found, except for a few fragments of ceramic jugs from the Old Kingdom. The size of the bricks and the mortar used in the construction of the walls show that they were contemporaries of the earliest parts of the mortuary temple, and that it certainly dates back to the reign of Snefru.
The foundation of the enclosure wall around the Bent Pyramid and its satellite pyramid is well built of rough blocks. These blocks probably supported the fine limestone wall. The high quality limestone entrance is well preserved and exhibits exquisite workmanship. The east side of the gate is 18 in (45.72 cm) high. On the outside, there are two recesses for the door hinges, with holes for 12 in (30.48 cm) deep sockets. On the side of the gate opening, where the door post pressed against it when turning, a mark is clearly visible and this indicates that the door was used for some time before it was dismantled. The doorway is 113 in (2.87 m) wide, with hinges 5.5 (13.97 cm) wide and 4.7 (11.94 cm) deep. The width of the gate itself is thus 124 in (3.15 m) or 6 cubits. The axis of the gate is 2028.6 in (51.53 m) from the outside of the east wall. The thickness of the enclosing wall is: at the gate the upper limestone wall is 80.8 in (2.05 m); rough wall - 100 in (2.54 m), at the satellite pyramid - from 88 (2.24 m) to 120 in (3.05 m).
The base side length of the satellite pyramid were 53 m long and 32.5 m high.
The satellite pyramid is considered as a cult pyramid.
The satellite pyramid (pyramid for Ka) is located in the center on the south side of the Bent Pyramid, and has a base side length of about 40 m. The pyramid was erected outside the complex, but a protective wall was also built around it.
The satellite pyramid is located 55 m south of the Bent Pyramid. In 1946-1947, Abd el-Salam Hussein cleared its northern edge and interior, but nothing of importance was found. Unfortunately, some remnants of quarry marks found on the blocks were mistakenly considered to be part of the name of Queen Hetepheres. A. Fakhry dug up the eastern side of the pyramid, and two steles were found where the names of Snefru could be read. The discovery of this stele also put an end to any speculation regarding the attribution of this pyramid to some other person, and it is undoubtedly a Ka-pyramid for Snefru himself.
The satellite pyramid found south of the Bent Pyramid is clearly associated with the latter. The enclosure wall includes both of them, the position of the satellite pyramid is exactly symmetrical to the large Pyramid (the line connecting the centres is inclined - 18' 52''), and the distance between the pyramids is 100 cubits (2055.4 in [52.21 m] from the north-eastern corner, 2044.2 in [51.92 m] from the north-western corner). It is possible that the satellite pyramid is the burial of the king's wife or daughter buried in the great Pyramid. The base side length of the satellite pyramid averages 2064.6 in (52.44 m). Angle of inclination 44° 34' (in the worst example 45° 3') was measured from the east side on the southeast casing stone of the pyramid. The height of the pyramid was 2,034 in (51.66 m). The entrance to the pyramid is littered with debris.
The Bent Pyramid is located about one mile west of the edge of the desert on a low hill.
The Pyramid complex has a square base with a side length of 305 m; it was surrounded by a wall. The Bent Pyramid is located exactly in the middle of the complex. In the middle, on its eastern side, is the upper temple, and on its southern side there is a satellite pyramid (pyramid for Ka).
The study on the core and casing of the Pyramid offers evidence that it was originally built as a pyramid with an angle of slope of about 60°, its base length being 157 m, and the planned height about 137 m. However, the foundation on which the Pyramid was built was not a rock, but a relatively soft layer of silty clay, not suitable for the construction of such a heavy structure. This soon led to the subsidence of the Pyramid and numerous structural irregularities, which forced the king's architects to change the slope of the Pyramid, adding a stone covering around its lower part. This covering, of inwardl-inclined blocks, having an outer angle of slope of about 54°, eventually gave the Pyramid a longer base (189 m). Similar inwardly sloping masonry was also used for the construction of the so-called 'layered pyramids', as well as the Pyramid at Meidum. However, even with this reduced angle, structural problems persisted because the use of inward-sloping rows actually increased the load on the Pyramid. When the Pyramid reached a height of about 49 m, the architects decided to lay horizontal courses of masonry to further reduce the slope of the Pyramid from 54° to just over 43°. These changes have determined today's unusual appearance of the Pyramid, with a final height of 105 m. According to scientists, the construction problems accounting for the change in slope and construction technique are manifested in numerous cracks, which were often repaired with plaster during construction work, or at least in ancient times. These cracks are still visible in various parts of the inner structure, such as the western and northern burial chambers, and in the northern entrance, where a huge crack was discovered about 12 m deep into the core. Plaster in no way demonstrates an attempt to repair structural damage, but rather masks them due to structural damage or simply construction inaccuracies. In the upper chamber, archaeologists also found several cedar beams inserted into the walls and heavy, plastered limestone blocks. The beams function as supports to stabilize the inner chamber and protect it from lateral pressures. According to the architects V. Maragioglio and C. Rinaldi, the subsidence of the entire structure of the Pyramid occurred with a shift of the outer part of the masonry in relation to the inner one. This displacement caused a large fissure that is still visible in the northern descending corridor. The theory is also backed by the location of the fault. Part of the descending corridor that passes through the outer cover is lower than part of the Pyramid core. This suggests that the outer part of the Pyramid was not added after the first structural problems, but prior to the occurrence of faults, most likely when the lower 54° slope was completed. However, the generally accepted theory of the history of the construction of the Bent Pyramid is not entirely satisfactory. The architects note that the soil of the area is not so unstable as not to support the Pyramid. The latter statement is supported by the fact that the foundations of the Pyramid are still visible and quite solid, including the corners of the Pyramid, which are the weakest points of the structure. A system of tumbling casing blocks would prevent the outer casing from sliding off, making it easier to connect the upper casing to the lower casing. This system was reinforced with a platform still visible in the north-western corner of the Pyramid on which the outer casing actually rests. Assuming that the Pyramid was deliberately planned as a double-slope monument from the start, the inward-sloping block system makes much more sense.
The casing blocks of the Pyramid were laid in courses inclined inwards.
The Pyramid was built with two slopes, so the lower part is a truncated pyramid, whereas the upper part is a full pyramid. This construction method, according to Sir J.G. Wilkinson, was driven by the desire to complete the Pyramid faster than originally anticipated. This assumption was to some extent confirmed by the research by J. Perring discovering that the upper part had been built with less care than the lower one, and it had also been composed of smaller stones. The casing blocks are not laid horizontally; they are tumbling towards the core of the structure, probably to gain greater strength. This slope, however, is not uniform and probably dictated by the shape of the blocks. In the upper part of the Pyramid, casing blocks are normally laid at an angle of 3° 30', and in the lower part the angle ranges from 6° 30' to 9°. The bottom casing stones are very large, with some courses being 4 ft 8 in (1.42 m) high. However, these courses are often divided into two rows, and connected at the sides. The seams between the casing blocks, rather than being vertical, are often cut at an angle to fit adjacent blocks. The courses at the top rarely exceed 2 ft (0.61 m) in height. The area of the destroyed platform at the top of the Pyramid is approximately 40 square feet (3.72 m2).
The original base size length was approximately 156 m (300 cubits). At the second stage of construction, the base was increased to 188.6 m (360 cubits).
The base side length of the Pyramid was measured by triangulation at the level of the pavement. According to these measurements, the average length of the base of the Pyramid was 189.46 m (7459 in). Basic triangulation results can be trusted to within 0.5 in (1.27 cm). To determine the azimuth of all triangulations, four measurements were made with a small theodolite adjusted to the North Star, and the same to Sirius to determine the sidereal time. According to the measurements, the average azimuth is -9' 12" (0.15°). The values of the cubits, then given by the various parts of the Pyramid, are equal: base 360 cubits, lower height 90 cubits, upper height 110 cubits. The construction of the base of the Bent Pyramid is very different from pyramids of the Giza Plateau due to the lack of a stone foundation, but the principle is the same. The original pavement has been preserved in the following places: in the north-west - with a clear edge of transition to an inclined base, in the north-east - where the base is completely destroyed, on the south side - here part of the southeastern block of the base remained, and also part of the pavement remained on the western side, with a marking line at its vertical junction. The stone pavement protruded from the base of the Pyramid itself, only 20-30 in (0.5-0.76 m). During the construction, outside the pavement, a layer of gravel was removed to a hard surface and a thick layer of mortar was applied, finished with a thin white coating to form a visible extension of the pavement. How far this extended is not clear. Pavement base level measurements are as follows (results are relative to actual pavement level, not theoretical true level): on the north side at the northeast corner -1.4 in (-3.6 cm), at the northwest corner + 2 in (+5.1 cm); on the east side at the northeast corner - 2.6 in (-6.6 cm), at the southeast corner 0 (mortared pavement); on the south side at the southwest corner (mortared pavement) +8 in (+20 cm). The level measurements of the other points are as follows: -34 in (-86 cm) southeast socket block, and -11 in (-28 cm) northwest socket block. In the northwest corner of the Pyramid, which is best preserved, lies a large socket block in the ground. Its level is 13 in (0.33 m) below the pavement itself, part of which is still above it. A block over 10 ft x 4.5 ft (3.05 x 1.37 m), together with other adjacent blocks, forms the foundation. The Pyramid stands on a horizontal pavement, the outermost blocks of which were inclined upward at an angle of 5°-10° along the entire circumference. On these sloped blocks, inclined casing was laid, and at the corners, large socket blocks were recessed to form the same sloped base for the corner casing blocks so that they lay below the level of the rest. The inward inclination of the laid casing blocks varies from 5° 36' to 13° 27'. In these corners, there is no regularity, the stones are simply piled on top of each other, without observing the exact parallelism of the surface on which they were laid.
The core of the Pyramid, which was built from local limestone blocks, rests upon a clay bed. However, the fine limestone casing, which is better preserved here than on any other Egyptian pyramid, stands on an artificially constructed platform. According to the original plan, the walls were supposed to have a rather steep angle of 60°, however, during construction, the angle was changed to almost 55°, which required an increase in the base. This change from the first to the second phase of construction can be seen in the ceiling and walls of the northern descending corridor into the Pyramid, about 12 metres from the entrance. When the structure was about 45 metres high, the angle of slope was further reduced to only 45°. This modification, which entailed a reduction in the volume of building material required for the upper half of the Pyramid, was possibly due to the risk of collapse in some of the inner chambers. Thus, the Pyramid acquired its distinctive 'bent' shape.
In the middle of the Bent Pyramid, there is evidence that it began as a much smaller pyramid with an angle of slope of about 60°. But structural problems causing its subsidence soon manifested themselves. The emergency measures took the form of an additional belt around its base, forming a slope of just under 55°. In the early stages of construction, the traditional inward-sloping masonry method was used. Even at the reduced tilt angle, it seems that there were still serious problems until about halfway through the construction they began to set the rows horizontally. It became clear that the courses with an inward slope did not only contribute to stability, but also increased the load upon the pyramid. Then the Bent Pyramid was continued with a much smaller angle of slope of about 43° or 44°, giving it a distinctive bent. Perhaps it was at this moment, even before the completion of the upper part, that the decision was made to start a new pyramid (Red Pyramid) in northern Dahshur. Around the same time, perhaps the 30th year of Sneferu's reign, according to R. Stadelmann's work, the construction of the satellite pyramid began. No special attention was paid to the inner masonry. Significant gaps between the stones were simply filled with limestone debris and even in some places with gypsum mortar. Back then, gypsum mortar was just beginning to be used, which, unlike clay mortar, had to be specially cooked on fire. The lack of a good mortar, carelessly laid blocks and, most importantly, an unstable surface under the base of the Pyramid, caused its structural disturbances.
Pyramid Base
???
Volume
1500000.0 m3
1237040.0 m3
Weight
???
Main Building Material
Limestone
Limestone
Limestone
Limestone
Limestone
Limestone
Casing Material
Fine limestone
Fine limestone
Fine limestone
Fine limestone
Fine limestone
Fine limestone
Additional Data
According to some scholars, the unusual shape of the Pyramid was not the result of experimentation and disturbance, but it rather manifests a structural design that was motivated religiously or politically. According to one hypothesis, the two angles of inclination of the Pyramid symbolize the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt; another hypothesis says, the nine surfaces (including the lower surface) symbolize the Heliopolitan Great Ennead.
Much of the casing of the Pyramid has survived, but the upper part is badly damaged by weather conditions and most likely never completed. The masonry at the bottom of the Pyramid was also destroyed, mostly said to be by the late Deftardar Mahommed Bey, in order to obtain material for his palace near Cairo.
The generally accepted theory of the construction process for the Bent Pyramid is not entirely satisfactory. Architects note that the soil of the area is not so unstable as not to support the Pyramid. The latter statement is backed by the fact that the foundations of the Pyramid are still visible and quite solid, including the corners of the Pyramid, which are the weakest points of the structure. A system of tumbling casing blocks would prevent the outer casing from sliding off, making it easier to connect the upper casing to the lower casing. This system has also been reinforced with a platform still visible in the north-west corner of the Pyramid on which the outer casing actually rests. Assuming that the Pyramid was deliberately planned as a double slope monument from the start, the tumbling block system makes much more sense. It is worth noting that the decrease in the volume and weight of the upper part of the Pyramid has little effect in terms of its actual total volume, which decreases from 1.548.000 m3 to just 1.432.000 m3. The total pressure on the base of the current Pyramid is only 8% (about 8.000 kg/m2) less than if it were built with an inclination angle of 54°. It is not known the exact historical moment when the cracks and faults appeared, but it is likely that they occurred a long time after the Pyramid was sealed. We can assume that the monuments of the Old Kingdom suffered from earthquakes as well as those of the Middle Kingdom. According to archaeological data, the construction of the Red Pyramid already lasted in the year of the 15th census. However, we do know that the Bent Pyramid's valley temple was built in the same year. Why, then, the Bent Pyramid, endowed with a valley temple, with exquisite reliefs and sculptures, should not have been used by the pharaoh, and it was required to start the construction of the Red Pyramid? It would be wiser to focus on the construction of a single site. Ever since the early Dynastic period, one of the key features of Egyptian funerary architecture has been the duality of the tomb, which is visible, for example, in the combination of the so-called 'funerary enclosure' and 'real tomb' in the necropolis at Abydos. During Djoser's time, this symbolic dualism perceived in the royal complex becomes even more evident in the dual system of chapels and places of worship dedicated to Upper and Lower Egypt, as well as the presence of the so-called 'southern tomb', which complemented the northern one (the Step Pyramid itself). Together, the two pyramids at Dahshur create a complete burial complex, with a double tomb and dual religious meaning and symbolic structure. An analysis of basic archaeological, architectural and epigraphic data seems to demonstrate that the Bent Pyramid was not only built to give the Pharaoh an eternal resting place, which was eventually abandoned for the sake of the Red Pyramid. It can be assumed that the Bent Pyramid was designed and implemented with its strange architectural form from the very beginning, and together with the Red Pyramid embodied the complex symbolism and glory of the shining sun king.
The Pyramid is quite notable in that most of the casing stones are in their original position, being relatively well-preserved.
The outer surface of the Pyramid is better preserved than most of the pyramids in Egypt. This is highlighted by the fact that the robbers began to remove good limestone from the bottom of the corners and moved to top.
It is generally accepted that the Pyramid suffered from various structural violations during its construction. The results of the study of the Bent Pyramid in 2016, conducted by F. Monnier and A. Puchkov, showed that the Pyramid was originally supposed to have had a shape similar to the Red Pyramid. In fact, extrapolating the slope of the top of the Pyramid to the ground unexpectedly offers a pyramid 109 meters high with a side length of 219 metres. These dimensions correspond exactly to the dimensions of the Red Pyramid. The Bent Pyramid is unique in that the outer layer of masonry has been added with courses inclined inwards. These hard-to-remove casing stones have helped preserve much of the smooth casing of the Pyramid. When the Bent Pyramid reached a height of about 40-50 metres, the architects decided to enlarge the pyramid by adding 16 metres thick masonry at the base. The upper courses of casing are laid at an inward inclination and are not uniform in height, thus creating a wavy appearance. This was not planned and is not the result of subsidence. Wavy courses of masonry are formed by blocks of various sizes and shapes. It seems that the different teams worked on a one-off basis, side by side, but without caring about what others were doing. The stone courses seem to be connected by makeshift solutions. Some stones are small, often only 30 cm high. However, despite inconsistent construction methods, there are few cracks in these areas. Despite the fact that the Pyramid was repaired several times, it is important to highlight that its lower courses had been carefully built from relatively large blocks, the weight of which was as much as 2 tonnes. Thus, there is a clear difference in quality between the bottom and top of the Pyramid. All of this corroborates the hypothesis that the Bent Pyramid required repair, and also suggests that it was completed in a hurry and with relative carelessness. Once the construction was completed, the architects were forced to reduce the slope of the casing so that part of the planned load was relieved and did not press on the peripheral base (foundation), which turned out to be unstable.
Most of the Pyramid's casing is still intact. The wave of Arab robberies (which ravaged the pyramids at Giza in the last few centuries) reached the Bent Pyramid only recently. Most of the devastation has been done in this century and even several years ago. The overall work done for this Pyramid is close to the work done for the Great Pyramid at Dahshur (Red Pyramid), and comparable to that for the pyramids at Giza. There are much more building errors than the Great (Cheops) or Second (Khafre) Pyramids of Giza, but much less than the Third Pyramid (Menkaure). The Bent Pyramid is a top-class structure, of much better quality than the Dynasty VI pyramids at Saqqara.
The architrave above the entrance is the largest casing block in the Pyramid. Its location in the middle of the northern face would probably have arrested the attention of anyone looking for an entrance.
The doorway suggests the existence of a closing device. The shape of an external stone door can be roughly estimated by the presence of a hole in the corridor wall. An ordinary flat slab is what an observer would probably first think of. However, a slab that would have to be 20 in (0.51 m) thick, depending on the position of the hinges, would require 700 (317.51 kg) to 1500 lbs (680.39 kg) to lift the door, which is unlikely in this position. Also, in the case of a flat door, there will be a 13 in (0.33 m) gap at the top edge when closed. Taking into account various data, we can conclude that the door had to taper towards the bottom edge in order to allow a person to enter. The force required to open such a door at the bottom edge will vary from 113.4 kg at the beginning to 226.8 kg when fully opened. It could be easily held open with a rod inserted across the beginning of the corridor.
The change from Phase 1 to Phase 2 of the Pyramid construction can be seen in the ceiling and walls of the northern descending corridor, about 12 m from the entrance.
When J. Perring began his work at the Pyramid, the northern descending corridor was only accessible at a distance of 140 ft (42.67 m), and it had been apparently closed on purpose. The entrance was full of large stones, similar to those found in the neighboring desert. The removal of these obstacles began on 20 September. The first section of the corridor, 41 ft 2 in (12.55 m) long, currently slopes at 28° 38', but the original slope of the corridor was 26° 10' (26,17°). Right at the entrance, the removal of the floor increased the height of the corridor to 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), but after a while it is 3 ft 5.5 in (1.05 m) high. The width is the same. At the end, the descending corridor becomes horizontal, 2 ft 8 in (0.81 m) long with the same height as the descending corridor, after which this horizontal corridor merges into the antechamber.
At the beginning of the descending corridor, on either side, there are holes in the wall, heavily rounded and sunken due to weathering. The holes appear to have originally measured 3-4 in (0.076-0.10 m) in diameter and 5-6 in (0.127-0.15 m) deep. These two holes are opposite each other, their centres are approximately 13 in (0.33 m) inside the Pyramid and 6 in (0.15 m) below the ceiling of the corridor. Above these holes, the ceiling slopes upward more steeply towards the outside. This corridor design appears to be a perfect fit for a stone door operating on a horizontal hinge. The holes are intended to pivot the bronze bearings, and the cutout in the ceiling should allow the top edge of the door to lift when pivoting on the hinge. At the beginning of the corridor is a vertical opening in the ceiling, 6.2 (0.16 m) to 8.2 in (0.21 m) from the west side, or 33.5 (0.85 m) to 35.5 in ( 0.896 m) from the eastern side of the corridor. From this hole along the ceiling there is a horizontal recess of about 32 in (0.81 m), and may have been intended for a wooden door operating on a vertical hinge. The corridor floor is completely destroyed at a distance of 195 in (4.95 m) from the entrance. There is no pavement about 19-20 in (0.48-0.51 m) thick at 36 (0.91 m) in from the entrance and up to 195 in (4.95 m). A thicker layer, 25 in (0.63 m) thick, is missing at the very beginning of the corridor. Consequently, there is no lower pivot hole and other parts of the locking mechanism. About 130 in (3.30 m) down the corridor there are two holes on each side, one near the top and one near the bottom. They are approximately 2 in (0.05 m) wide and 1 in (0.025 m) deep, flat to the north and curving to the south. They were probably intended for some kind of mechanism. The corridor's displacement is found where the ceiling and floor from their apparent direction suddenly rises in a curve to a point 11.1 in (0.28 m) above the true line, and then plummets, completely restoring the previous direction for 23 in (0.58 m), only 1.1 in (0.028 m) above true line. This displacement is unrelated to subsidence, as: 1. 11.1 in (0.28 m) subsidence in such massive masonry close to the ground is impossible; 2. because the ceiling on the upper side of the displacement is 23 in (0.58 m) sloped away with 1.1 in (0.028 m) removed to the maximum. This indicates that the builders were then well aware of this formation, and yet they did not want to align everything as if it were an accident, although most likely it was not a difficult task for them. The azimuth of the corridor is +13.5', that is, it deviates east of True North. The corridor is littered at the bottom, so the interior spaces are currently inaccessible.
Right at the entrance, high on each wall, there are holes that F. Petrie hypothesized to have held a bronze pivot that supported a hinged stone door. Since this positioning of the door actually covers half the height of the entrance, this assumption is not convincing. However, in the process of clearing the western descending corridor, A. Fakhry discovered that the western entrance was blocked by a single casing block. Two inscriptions on the east and west walls are visible right inside the entrance. The traced outlines of an animal are visible on the eastern wall. According to A. Fakhry it is a lion figure; according to F. Petrie it is a pug figure. The drawing has not been researched well enough to tell which animal was depicted, and there is no evidence to indicate its purpose at that location. The angle of slope of the corridor between 26° to 28° is typical of the great pyramids. There is no floor at the bottom of the descending corridor, and today wooden planks traverse a large, rough pit in the floor. The transition from the descending corridor to the antechamber is rough, all surfaces are badly damaged. The descending corridor penetrates 74 ft (22.56 m) below the base level of the Pyramid. The entire length of the corridor are cased with limestone blocks.
Two portcullis are located in a horizontal corridor. One at the east end and the other at the west end.
Two portcullis are located at the east and west ends of the horizontal corridor.
Two portcullis were located in a horizontal corridor linking the western descending corridor with the upper burial chamber.
Two portcullis are located at the east and west ends of the horizontal corridor.
Two portcullis were located in a horizontal corridor linking the western descending corridor with the upper burial chamber.
Two portcullis are located in the horizontal corridor. One is at the east end and the other at the west end.
Description
The robbers' hole in the upper right corner of the western portcullis was enlarged by Hussein to a height of 3 ft (0.91 m) and given rectangular shape to allow easy access to the western descending corridor. The portcullis had been sealed with mortar along the edges on both sides, which suggests that the north and west entrances were open when the portcullis was lowered. The second (eastern) portcullis is still in the raised position. A supposedly present-day wooden beam holds the portcullis in its place. It is not known what kept the portcullis from falling before the beam was set up. Perhaps it was never lowered, because the lateral pressure on the stone as a result of the Pyramid's subsidence did not allow it to slip.
The western portcullis, which was probably supported during the construction of the Pyramid, went down after the removal of the support and closed the entrance from the western descending corridor. The western portcullis was found in its place, but the upper part was hewn through to open the entrance. The portcullis had to be lowered when both (north and south) descending corridors were opened, as it had been plastered on both sides.
Additional Data
The eastern portcullis was found in an elevated position, which may indicate that the upper chamber was originally built as Sneferu's burial.
On the western portcullis, plaster was found at the joints on both sides. The inner surface could have only been plastered once the portcullis had been lowered, and this is only possible if there was some way of getting from the upper chamber system to the lower one, allowing the worker to leave the Pyramid. Thus, the connecting passage between the two chamber systems had been probably forced, and it had never been part of the original structure.
The chamber's floor is 6.25 m above the antechamber floor. There are two passages in the southern wall of the chamber: one leads to a vertical shaft ('chimney'), the second is at a height of 12.6 m and leads to a curved (connecting) passage.
The chamber was covered with masonry of small rectangular stones up to the level of the upper part of the corridor, which was also built in the same way. This debris has been partially removed, but it is likely that the remaining debris is now hiding a sarcophagus or an entrance to a secret chamber. Many stones were broken. The walls weren't blackened with smoke. From another 10 ft (3.05 m) long corridor, a shaft ('chimney') is located in the southern part of the chamber opposite the entrance. Many of the stones in the burial chamber caved in under constant pressure, and settlement must have occurred during construction because most of the damaged areas were plastered.
In the southern wall of the burial chamber, directly opposite the antechamber, there is an entrance leading to a vertical shaft ('chimney').
The entrance to the lower (burial) chamber is located in the north-eastern corner of the chamber and corresponds to the width of the antechamber. Its height is 16 ft (4.88 m). The rubble on the floor of the chamber is 5 ft (1.52 m) thick along the south and west walls. The walls of the chamber are not carved into the rock, but are made of well-laid limestone blocks. A portion of the western wall is missing, and fragments of limestone casing are visible about 1 ft (0.3 m) thick. Behind the casing, the bedrock can be seen. Considerable remnants of pink plaster are visible on the eastern wall of the chamber up to the base of the corbelled window. High in the corbelled vault of the chamber, 41 ft (12.5 m) above the floor, is the entrance to the connecting corridor. J. Perring's drawings show that the lower chamber had masonry. A. Fakhry reports that small square blocks filled the chamber up to the first step about 20 ft (6.1 m) high. V. Maragioglio and C. Rinaldi suggested that the level at the base of the window was 3 ft (0.91 m) lower. While a considerable amount of pink mortar is visible on the east wall, V. Maragioglio and C. Rinaldi reported that there was mortar on other walls, right up to the first step. This suggests that the original stone staircase led steeply upward from the northern entrance to the antechamber and provided access to the lower chamber, where the floor was about 17 ft (5.18 m) above the current level. The presence of this staircase explains the clearly unnecessary height of the exit from the antechamber to the lower chamber, since the lower half of the entrance was filled with a staircase. Probably the small blocks that form the stairs were the first to be moved by the robbers in search of hidden cavities. The robbers also dismantled the lower floor of the chamber and threw debris down the remains of the stairs. With the intention of cleaning up the interior of the Pyramid, archaeologists removed the bulk of the accumulated blocks and debris.
The lower burial chamber with a corbelled vault is located above the antechamber, and it might have been accessed by climbing the stairs. This whole structure, plus the vertical shaft ('chimney') on the exact central axis of the Pyramid, is located in a pit, relative to the surface of the desert.
In the descending corridor of the Pyramid, two hieroglyphic inscriptions left by visitors were carved. At the moment, this is the only example of such inscriptions found in the pyramids. In addition, there is also a curious Greek drawing of an animal, possibly a pug dog.
Unlike the pyramids of the Giza Plateau, which have corridors carved into the bedrock, the lower part of the Bent Pyramid - the descending corridor, the antechamber, and the lower (burial) chamber - were all built from blocks of limestone, inside a trench that was carved into the bedrock.
J. S. Perring began clearing the corridors of the Pyramid on September 20, 1839. Crude inscriptions were found near the northern entrance. According to Sir J. Wilkinson, the inscriptions were drawn in a relatively late period, in which case the passage should have been readable while the hieroglyphs were still in use. In the corridors of the Pyramid, ropes and ancient baskets made of papyrus were found. The excavations carried out in the Red Pyramid seem to prove that in some cases the Egyptians themselves broke into and destroyed these ancient tombs. An opening in the southern part of the lower burial chamber was examined with the help of a ladder and scaffolding. A rotten rope made from papyrus was found hanging there. The Pyramid masonry was cut to connect the lower chamber with a horizontal corridor that communicated with the western entrance. The western entrance was discovered in October 1839 but never opened until the early 1950s.
The design of the chambers in the Pyramid is more progressive than in the Red Pyramid, since the corbelled vaults in the Bent Pyramid are erected in two dimensions instead of one, and the area of the upper space covered by the vaults is much larger. Thus, the Snefru's Bent Pyramid appears to be more recent than the Red Pyramid. Inside the Pyramid, it is noticeable that attempts to find the burial chamber were most likely made by robbers. The study of the interior of the Pyramid began in November 1946 under the direction of the architect Abd el-Salam Hussein. From the beginning, the northern descending corridor and the lower chamber were completely cleared of stone debris. After that, work began on the dismantling of the floor of the upper chamber and the cleaning of the western descending corridor.
The existence of two systems of chambers and corridors may suggest an attempt by the architects to overcome the contradiction between the traditional north-south orientation of the underground chambers tincluding the burial chamber, and the newly introduced eas-west orientation of the pyramidal complex as a whole. As to the upper (western) system of chambers and passages of the Bent Pyramid, its orientation and western entrance resemble the southern tomb of the Djoser complex at Saqqara. R. Stadelmann sees in the Bent Pyramid the rudiments of the so-called three-chamber module of the underground complex, similar to the pyramids of the 5th-6th dynasties. This structure raises even more archaeological questions.
The interior of the Bent Pyramid is unique in that it has two separate, 'upper' and 'lower' systems of chambers and corridors. It is generally accepted that the lower chamber system was built first. There is strong evidence that the lower system was planned to lead into a burial chamber, which was never built. For unknown reasons, this first project was abandoned by the builders in favour of a second system, which used a different entrance located on the western edge of the Pyramid. Finally, after several setbacks, the two systems were linked with a connecting passage. Then the entrance to the western corridor was sealed and the Pyramid was abandoned.
In late 1947, a small wooden box with a small mummy was discovered under a certain stone in the floor of a corridor inside the Bent Pyramid. the box contained a bird's skeleton (owl) and the bones of bats. The mummy is of particular interest because it is the only specimen of an intact mummy available so far dating back to early Dynasty IV, the time of Pharaoh Snofru's reign, i.e. about 5000 years ago. Despite the great variety of animals mummified by the ancient Egyptians, this event is the first whereby bats have ever been found mummified. A detailed study is provided in a report by A. Batrawi entitled 'The Pyramid Studies. Anatomical Reports 1948. A Small Mummy from the Pyramid of Dahshur' in ASAE Vol 48, 1948.
There are two systems of corridors and chambers in the Pyramid: northern and western ones. In contrast to the northern system, the western one, with portcullis and other precautions, shows that it led to a place the builders especially wanted to protect, a true burial chamber. There are ancient cracks in the interior of the Pyramid, which were removed with plaster by the ancient builders. The upper and lower chambers were filled with small blocks of limestone masonry that were removed by archaeologists, and it is quite possible that the sarcophagus - if this Pyramid ever contained the body of the pharaoh - had been embedded in the floor. This arrangement of sarcophagi is also known from other ancient monuments. According to A. Fakhry, the cedar beams found in the upper chamber had not been used either as scaffolding or to reinforce or support the walls. He hypothesizes that the beams were a kind of symbolic shed or tent for the deceased.
The floor of the lower burial chamber is 6.25 m above the floor of the antechamber.
The floor in the antechamber is heavily littered with stones up to 1 ft in diameter. Some blocks could have fallen from the ceiling, but most likely they had been thrown down from the upper chambers. The far (southern) end of the antechamber is a flat rock wall 22 ft (6.71 m) high that had been roughly cut into the rock. V. Maragioglio and C. Rinaldi reported the outline of a staircase on both the east and west walls of the chamber. The contour of the stairs is still clearly visible. The pink mortar still adheres to the wall of the antechamber. Marks on the side walls of the antechamber indicate that the stairs were originally inclined steeply upward from the lower entrance to the antechamber towards a point significantly higher than the modern floor of the lower chamber. J. Perring's drawing shows that the debris of the ruined staircase filled the antechamber almost to the first protrusion of the vault, 29 ft (8.84 m) high and at an angle roughly coinciding with the stairs.
A 10 ft (3.05 m) long corridor at the southern end of the lower burial chamber leads into a vertical shaft ('chimney'). At about half its height, the shaft is again connected by a passage to the lower burial chamber.
Opposite the entrance, in the southern wall of the lower (burial) chamber, there is a rectangular opening and a short corridor leading to a high 'chimney'. There is a square pit in the floor of the short corridor that was excavated in 1948 to a depth of about 26 ft (7.92 m) before reaching the bottom. Now this pit is completely covered with rubble. On the south wall of the lower chamber, 18 ft (5.49 m) above its floor, there is a 'window' with a corbelled vault. The window connects the lower chamber and the 'chimney' and relieves the load from the ceiling of the short corridor below it.
The vertical shaft ('chimney') on the exact central axis of the Pyramid was to be located in the pit, relative to the original surface of the desert.
A short passage in the south-western corner of the lower burial chamber provides access to a vertical shaft ('chimney'), now partially destroyed. As archaeological excavations progressed, the shaft became known as 'chimney'. It is precisely oriented along the vertical central axis of the Pyramid.
While clearing the floor of the lower chamber as directed by the architect Abd el-Salam Hussein, large blocks of limestone were found covering the shaft in front of the 'chimney'. In the shaft, hewn stone slabs were found in a soft mortar. It was assumed that the hidden burial chamber was located there, especially because this shaft was found on the axis of the Pyramid. However, after lifting the blocks at a depth of 18 ft (5.49 m) from this masonry they reached the bottom of the pit, where minor traces of incense were found. Above this pit is a vertical shaft ('chimney') that extends 60 ft (18.29 m) above the floor of the lower chamber and contains two open false doors. These doors appear to have been built into the structure in order to thus fulfill a quote from the Pyramid Texts: 'The double doors of the horizon are open; the bolts are not locked.' They may indicate that the entrance to the tomb is at the top of this shaft.
The entrance on the outer western side of the Pyramid was so well camouflaged that it eluded the most careful study, and the blocks within it seemed to fit with the greatest precision.
The entrance is located 13.7 m south of the central east-west axis of the Pyramid.
Most of the corridor was cluttered with large blocks that were only removed by about 60 ft (18.29 m) at the lower end.
The corridor was originally cluttered with blocks from the entrance across its entire 211 ft (64.31 m) length. The robbers had cleared the blocks within the first 60 ft (18.29 m). A. Hussein continued clearing for the next 45 ft (13.72 m) and A. Fakhry finished the removal of blocks up to the entrance. Here he found the only specimen of the original pyramid's "door" block. The entrance was closed with a casing block placed in the corridor, indistinguishable from any other casing block.
According to A. Fakhry's report in ASAE No.51, once the corridor had been cleared, the lower section of the corridor turned out to be 40.45 m long, beyond which the corridor's slope changed. The length of the upper section is 27.28 m. The passage was completely filled with large limestone plugs. The outer stone ("door") of the casing fit so precisely and did not differ from the surrounding stones that it was impossible to detect any entrance available on the western face of the Pyramid. Hussein discovered a box with mummies at the beginning of the descending corridor, behind a broken portcullis, proving that the Pyramid's interior had been already accessible in ancient times.
The horizontal corridor is located above the base level of the Pyramid.
To the east, at the end of the horizontal corridor, once the portcullis is passed by, there is a burial (upper) chamber. Westward, after the second portcullis, the corridor leads to the western descending corridor.
On the wall of the horizontal corridor opposite the exit from the connecting passage, there is an inscription left by J. Perring: 'Discovered October 20, 1839'. To the west of the connecting passage, a pit 13 ft (3.96 m) deep and 14 ft (4.27 m) long opens across the full width of the horizontal corridor floor. The pit is made of limestone blocks, its sides are finished and worked. It was A. Fakhry who first discovered this pit, which was covered with floor slabs and filled with rough yellowish limestone blocks. The pit appears to be part of the original structure, but its purpose is unknown.
The horizontal corridor at the end of the western descending corridor is at the level of the Pyramid's base. It was wonderfully designed. In the passage, two vertical beams had been inserted into a depression in the masonry. The corridor had two portcullis of an unusual design. The eastern end of the horizontal corridor connected to the upper burial chamber.
Several large cedar beams are lined along the walls of the chamber.
The upper burial chamber is arranged in the same way as the lower one, however, the blocks of the corbelled vault are damaged in the upper one. Large cedar beams were laid across and along the walls of the chamber.
The upper burial chamber is located above the base level of the Pyramid.
A. Fakhry believed that Snefru was buried in the upper chamber. The blocks from which the vault is made, were roughly worked. One of the blocks bears an inscription casually done in red pigment, and a cartouche bearing the name of Snefru is clear proof that the Bent Pyramid belonged to him. The lower part of the chamber was filled with rough masonry, partly mortar-bonded and partly bare. The cavities in the walls contain the remains of cedar beams, as in the Pyramid of Meidum. In this regard, we can recall the information on the Palermo stone, according to which 40 ships brought cedar beams from the mountains of Libya to Egypt during the reign of Snefru. The purpose of the masonry and beams in the upper chamber is not entirely clear. V. Maragioglio and C. Rinaldi thought they were remnants of a structure that they had intended to use either as a base or as a shield for the sarcophagus. According to this hypothesis, the masonry, into which the wooden coffin was inserted, in a way replaced the external stone sarcophagus. R. Stadelmann, however, refuses to rule out the possibility that the masonry, together with timber beams, could have been used to decorate the vault or to reinforce the walls to prevent cracks. Cracks were found in the upper chamber and in the corridor leading to it, which the builders had tried to cover up with gypsum plaster. The discovery of the plaster suggests that the appearance of these cracks may have caused the architects to change the angle of slope of the Pyramid.
The chamber was badly destroyed; it had been built in the same way as the other chambers, from small stones. The chamber is located at a high altitude. Excavations to a depth of about 12 ft (3.66 m) were found in the flooring masonry.
When the architect Abd el-Salam Hussein discovered the upper chamber, it was filled with cut stones, except for the southern side, which had a passage about 3 ft (0.91 m) wide by 7 ft (2.13 m) deep. While clearing the top of this chamber, Hussein discovered a box-like structure. To erect this structure, blocks were used smaller than those in the walls of the chamber. However, evidence suggests that most of the masonry in this 'box' was contemporary to the Pyramid itself, and that a staircase originally led from floor level to the ceiling of this 'box' 23 ft (7.01 m) above the floor of the main chamber. Hussein made every effort to remove the floor at the site in an attempt to find a filled shaft that was supposed to lead to the burial chamber. The floor of the chamber is composed of limestone blocks approximately 1 ft (0.3 m) thick and of various sizes, reinforced with gypsum as a mortar. Under these blocks, there was a backfill of coarse limestone blocks. Upon investigation, the floor was dug to a depth of approximately 10 ft (3.05 m) and it was found that there are three successive vertical layers of infill. Most of the floor in the upper chamber has been raised. During the excavations, traces of broken burial goods were found. Cracks filled with ancient gypsum were found in the walls of the chamber. This gypsum is considered to be contemporary with the Pyramid. It seems likely that these cracks originated during the construction of the Pyramid. They were spotted by the builders who fixed them with plaster. For this reason, the architect decided that the ceiling of the upper chamber could not support the weight of the upper part of the actual Pyramid and thus changed the outer angle, which reduced the anticipated weight that the ceiling of the chamber had to carry.
The examination of the upper chamber suggests that it has a complex history of formation. Initially, the corbelled vault of the chamber had 15 steps, similar to the lower chamber. In the first phase of the changes, the floor of the chamber was raised to a height of 3.46 meters and paved with well-finished stone slabs. Three steps above the floor have been chipped away. Many chisel marks are still visible in several places on the walls. In the second phase of the modification, the builders decided to raise the floor again, doubling the height of the existing mass. Again it was paved with limestone slabs, and the ledges were hewn down by the builders to the tenth step so as to give a uniform and smooth appearance to the side walls. To get to the top of the platform, a temporary staircase was built of very rough stones. It filled the southern part of the chamber and remained there until the first excavations began in 1947. Its presence seemed to require that the overlapping of the entrance aisle be tilted upward, probably to facilitate the passage of the funeral procession. Abd el-Salam Hussein photographed the area before searching for a hypothetical buried sarcophagus. One of his photographs shows a mound of rubble and debris falling from the top of the chamber to the floor. After clearing about three-quarters of the masonry, Hussein discovered the existence of a solid timber support structure, which was completely hidden in the mass of the masonry. Two types of beams can be distinguished - vertical ones, which stand at the western, northern and eastern walls; and horizontal ones, supporting side beams that have been aligned east-west. The ends of the horizontal support beams are not in any way secured or sealed, but simply squeezed between two walls. The first four protrusions also have several surviving end fragments of transverse beams embedded in the walls, as well as depressions and other traces that indicate that beams were used in these places. One of them is preserved in the upper ledge. The chamber's timber framework probably had no other purpose than to resist lateral stress from any movement of the wall, and it was not set up to prevent structural collapse. According to F. Monnier's research, the existence of a wooden structure can be explained by the fact that the walls of the chamber had to be only supported for the months or years that were required to erect them.
The upper chamber is divided by a vertical 21 ft (6.4 m) wall of well-worked blocks arranged in courses. The eastern end of the wall is missing; only roughly cut stones are visible. At the top of the rough section of the wall, long flat blocks are stacked on top of the rough stones and appear to represent the floor. V. Maragioglio and C. Rinaldi described this masonry as a stone mass. On the east side, there is a low wall, 11 ft (3.35 m) high, similar in quality to the wall described above. This short wall is not flat, it is well-worked and mortared. Blocks protruding from the bottom half of the wall indicate that much of the original structure is now missing. Right inside the upper chamber, the robbers had made a rough hole, two rows deep, covering the floor and passing under the left wall. Descending into this space, on the lower level, we found an inverted cartouche of Snefru, painted with red ochre, ascertaining the owner of the Pyramid. As in the lower chamber, numerous changes are visible in the upper one. Much was made from the cedar beams covering the chamber, but there is still no satisfactory explanation for their purpose. Perring found the upper chamber filled with a stone mass. The robbers had removed several blocks in the northeast and southeast corner, creating a mine-like space. In 1946, Hussein dismantled the northern part of the stone mass in search of Snefru's burial site. When he removed the stones in the middle of the chamber, he found cedar beams between the stones. He cleared the northern end of the chamber to floor level and exposed 10 beams made up of half tree trunks. The stone mass on the south side of the chamber remains and probably contains additional beams. The important point is that the beams were hidden inside the mass. Therefore, they could not play a symbolic or practical role in the burial and their purpose had to be associated either with the construction or with the purpose of the stone massif. The Perring drawings, one of the Hussein photographs, and possibly one of the Fakhry drawings all indicate that the south side of the upper chamber was filled with a slanted mass starting at the entrance and tilting towards the top of the massif. This could indicate that there was once a staircase leading to the top of the massif, which was the actual floor of the chamber. In addition, the sloped ceiling at the entrance to the upper chamber could provide space for people using the stairs. The fact that small blocks were used to fill the voids in the lower and upper chambers suggests that these were afterthoughts and not part of the original plan. If they had been part of the original structure, then blocks would have been used that correspond to the structure of the Pyramid and are an integral part of it. It is possible that small blocks were used to fill the voids and thereby reinforce the Pyramid.
The upper burial chamber is at a higher level than the lower one. The upper chamber demonstrates structural instability as the chamber was reinforced with large cedar beams and scaffolding. A while after both chambers had been built, a connecting passage was made between the two chamber systems.
The connecting passage rises slightly up towards the horizontal corridor.
At a height of 12.60 m above the floor, there is a passage in the centre of the southern wall of the lower burial chamber. The dimensions of the entrance to the passage are 0.74 x 0.92 m. The passage is not straight, rather slightly inclined upwards, roughly worked. The passage leads south and runs 5.47 m higher into a horizontal corridor oriented east-west.
The connecting passage is a square structure, with no finishing. This incompletion suggests that the passage is not a crude robbers' tunnel, not a finely finished original corridor, but rather an afterthought of the original builders, cut through the already laid blocks of the Pyramid's core. The slope of the passage varies, in different places it is observed from 15° to 30°. In the upper part of the connecting passage, when measuring the slope of the corridor blocks, it was found that they had been laid horizontally. This suggests that the blocks of the Pyramid core had been laid in a horizontal position, not inclined, as seen in the casing blocks.
The two inner systems of chambers (northern and southern ones) were connected by a narrow irregular tunnel crudely hewn through the masonry of the Pyramid's core. It started in the lower chamber and exited in the western horizontal corridor, in-between two portcullis.
On the western portcullis, plaster was found at the joints on both sides. The inner surface could only have been plastered after the portcullis had been lowered, and this is only possible if there was some way of moving from the upper chamber system to the lower one, allowing the worker to leave the Pyramid. Thus, the connecting passage between the two chamber systems had been probably forced, and it was not part of the original structure.
A while after both burial chambers had been built, a connecting passage was made between them. It was definitely built later, as it had been cut into the masonry by someone who knew exactly where the two chambers were located. We can only guess why Sneferu chose to have two systems of chambers in his Pyramid. One suggestion is that the western system is influenced by the experience of designing the southern tomb of Djoser. The long passage once again highlights the general orientation to the south-west, as in the royal burial of Dynasty I at Abydos.
The masonry was cut through to connect the lower burial chamber with a horizontal corridor that linked to the western entrance. This connecting passage was not straight or regular in shape, but sloped slightly upward. The right corner of the upper end was rounded off, and a small indentation was cut on the opposite side of the horizontal passage, apparently to move a long solid object into the lower chamber.
