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- Dashur -
In March 2013 our research team has studied the Subsidiary Pyramid for the first time, and the results were described in the expedition report "Egypt. March-2013". During the present expedition "Egypt. November-December 2013" we have done the additional photography, basing on the drawings from the research work of V. Maragioglio & C.Rinaldi "L'Architettura Delle Piramidi Menfite", in which the Italian researchers made the detailed describtion of both the external and internal structure of the Bent Pyramid Complex. The Subsidiary Pyramid of Sneferu (Lepsius LVII) is located on the southern side of the Bent Pyramid. Its axial line N-S completely coincides with the axial line of the main Pyramid. The distance between the pyramids is 55 meters. For some time it was believed that the Subsidiary Pyramid was built for the Queen, the wife of Pharaoh Sneferu. This assumption arose when Abdusalam Hussein discivered the name Hetepheres, written among the quarry marks on the masonry blocks. The excavations, conducted by the Egyptian archaeologist Ahmed Fakhry showed that the reading of the name was incorrect, and since then the Pyramid has been considered as the part of the Southern Pyramid Complex of Sneferu. The interior of the Subsidiary Pyramid was first explored in 1946-1947 by Abdusalam Hussein. Nothing significant, except several fragments of vessels, was found inside. Outside excavations were carried out by Ahmed Fakhry. The Pyramid massif is built of local yellow limestone. The masonry blocks are processed more roughly and their everage size is much smaller than the everage size of the masonry blocks of the Bent Pyramid. The facing of the Subsidiary Pyramid was made of harder, white limestone blocks. The wide gaps between the joints of the masonry blocks were sealed with pink cement, mixed with limestone chips. The massif is composed of horizontal rows encircling its core. From 2 to 5 lower rows of the Pyramid's facing have partially survived up to the present time. On the Northern side, the height of the facing row is 60 cm, and on the Eastern and Western - 50 cm. The length of the side of the Pyramid's base is 52.8 m.
Descending Passage. The Northern Descending Passage of the Pyramid begins exactly in the middle of its Northern face, above the second row of masonry, at a height of 1.1 m from its basement. The slope of the corridor is 34°. Because of the absence of the facing above the Pyramid entrance, the full length of the corridor makes now 11.6 m. The walls, floor and ceiling of the Descending Passage are made of white limestone blocks. The horizontal joints of the wall blocks run strictly parallel to its floor, at the appropriate angle of inclination. The walls of the upper part of the corridor consist of two rows of blocks, while in its lower part the walls are laid in one row with the blocks of the same height as the passage itself. The joining surfaces of the blocks are fitted with a high degree of precision. The Descending Passage ends with a small horizontal corridor, connecting it with the Ascending Passage, leading into the corbelled Chamber of the Pyramid. Ascending Passage. After passing the Descending Passage and small Horizontal Corridor we enter the Ascending Passage, with a slope angle of 32°30'. In a few meters from the beginning of the Ascending Passage, the height of the ceiling increases sharply and does not change any more until the entrance of the Corbelled Chamber. Halfway through the passage to the Chamber is obstructed by the limestone plug blocks. The space between the plug blocks and the Chamber is filled with small limestone chips and dust. Corbelled Chamber. The Corbelled Chamber has a square floor. The finishing of the walls of the chamber is preserved quite well. The red marking lines along the entire perimeter of the Chamber are clearly visible. The ceiling vault is represented by eight steps, the height of each is 0.52 m (1 cubit). The total height of the Chamber from the floor to the last ceiling overlap is 6.9 m. At a height of 0.52 m (1 cubit) from the floor, a red marking line runs along the walls of its entire perimeter, passing onto the eastern wall of the Ascending Passage, leading into the Chamber. The architrave overlap is made of a monolithic block, which horizontally occupies the entire space of the northern wall and vertically reaches the beginning of the third step of the Chamber vault . The southern floor overlap of the Chamber is missing.
Vertical Shaft. In the south-east corner of the Corbelled Chamber, where the floor blocks are missing, there is a Vertical Shaft, going down at a depth of 4.2 meters. The third photograph clearly shows the thickness of the original floor covering of the Chamber.
The walls of the Chamber, as seen from the pictures below, are made of roughly worked blocks of white limestone. The bottom of the shaft is formed with compressed soil and dust. The shaft was found during the archaeological works, carried out here by Abdusalam Hussein in 1946-1947. On the rough blocks of the shaft, one can see the well preserved markings of the pyramid builders, the meaning of which has not yet been revealed.
The first two pictures are showing the Ascending Passage (view from the Corbelled Chamber), and the third and fourth - the Descending Passage (view from the Horizontal Corridor). Shaft infront of the Pyramid Entrance. On the Northern side of the Pyramid, directly opposite its entrance, there is a vertical Shaft. Currently, it is filled with sand up to the very top, and one can only see the framing of its sides. According to the research of the Italian archaeologists V. Maragioglio & C.Rinaldi, the rectangular shaft, the walls of which are made of yellow limestone, narrows downwards, representing an inverted truncated pyramid. At its very bottom, the blocks of yellow limestone are changing with more durable blocks of white limestone, forming the base of the shaft walls. Such kind of shaft, located in front of the entrance to the Pyramid, is found exclusively here, in Dahshur, before the Subsidiary Pyramid of Sneferu and nowhere else.
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