Layer Pyramid

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Layer Pyramid; Pyramid of Khaba
Ruined pyramid raising a few meters from the desert floor, a heap of sand and mudbricks.
Owner uncertain, possibly Khaba, 3rd Dynasty
Coordinates 29°55′58″N 31°09′41″E / 29.932820°N 31.161262°E / 29.932820; 31.161262 (Pyramid of Khaba)
Type Step Pyramid (planned to comprise 5 steps)
Material natural bedrock and mudbricks
Height planned to be 42–45 m (138–148 ft), today 17 m (56 ft)
Base 84 m (276 ft)
Slope 68°
The Layer Pyramid (known locally in Arabic as il-haram il-midawwar, Arabic: الهرم المدور‎, meaning 'rubble-hill pyramid') is located in the necropolis of Zawyet el'Aryan in Egypt. It is thought to be the tomb of pharaoh Khaba of the Third Dynasty, but this is disputed.
Transparent image taken from a 3d model

Research history

The Layer pyramid was first excavated and examined in 1839 by John Shae Perring. The subterranean passages were found and excavated in 1896 by Jacques de Morgan. Further and more detailed investigatien were performed in 1900 by Alessandro Barsanti and in 1910 - 1911 by George Reisner and Clarence Fisher. They also investigated the pyramid surroundings.[1][2] Unfortunately, the pyramid and its surroundings lie within an a military restricted area since 1970 and there has been no excavation ever since.[1][2]

Description

Location

The Layer Pyramid lies around 8 km south-west of Giza, close to the necropolis of Zawyet el'Aryan.[1][2]

Superstructure

The Layer pyramid has a square base measuring 84 x 84 m, its layers and outer walls have an inward inclination angle of 68°. If finished the pyramid would have comprised five steps and reached c. 45 m in height. Today only two steps remain and reach about 17 m in height. The current ruined state of the pyramid allows a view of its core: its fundations are made of the natural bedrock and measure 11 x 11 m. These are surrounded by layers made of mud bricks. Each layer is 2,6 m thick. It is disputed, if the pyramid was finished, or left unfinished. Egyptologists such as Rainer Stadelmann believe that the pyramid was finished, but others, such as Miroslav Verner, think that the building was left unfinished because of the pharaoh's sudden death.[1][2]

Substructure

The entrance lies on the eastern site. A pretty steep stairway leads down to a corridor which heads toward west. The corridor ends in a straight vertical shaft, which splits up into a T-shaped crossway. To the left it leads to the king's chamber, to the right it leads to a U-shaped galery system. The ground plan of the galery system reminds to the shape of a comb, it consists of 32 chambers and was possibly used as storage room for the gravegoods. The king's chamber was nearly quadratic and contained no traces of a sarcophagus.[1][2]

Necropolis

Interestingly, the necropolis of the Layer pyramid shows no traces of an enclosure wall. At its eastern site, the pyramid shows traces of a mortuary temple, but the archaeological traces are so scarce, that any closer examination and more precise reconstruction is impossible today. The same goes for the ruins of a building several hundred metres away from the pyramid, it might have been the valley temple. An eastern position of the building would be unusual, though. Around 200 m from the pyramid, a huge mastaba can be found, it's today known as Mastaba Z500. Inside this mastaba several stone bowls with the horus name of king Khaba were found.[1][2]

Datation

The architecture of the Layer pyramid allows a secure datation in the time span between the rulership of king Sekhemkhet and king Snofru, the founder of the 4th dynasty. Stadelmann, Verner and Jean-Philippe Lauer compare the architecture of the Layer Pyramid with that of the step pyramids of Djoser and Sekhemkhet, expecting the Layer Pyramid to have once consisted of fife steps, just as its contemporary predecessors. The building shows at one site developements concerning complex substructures and simplifications concerning the building methods on the other side. The Layer pyramid is a clearly advanced version of the buried pyramid of Sekhemkhet.[1][2][3]

The only problem about the Layer pyramid is the question of who builded it. Most of today scholars believe that it was Khaba, since his name appears on bowls found in Mastaba Z500. Rainer Stadelmann goes further and identifies Khaba with king Huni, the last ruler of the 3rd dynasty. His evaluation is based on the Turin canon, a kinglist written on a papyrus and dating back to the 19th dynasty. King Huni is credited with a rulership of 24 years. According to Stadelmann, this time span would perfectly cover the time span needed to complete the building of the Layer pyramid. He also argues, that royal monuments of the first three Egyptian dynasties only present a king's horus name, later document only the throne- or birth name. Thus, he connects the cartouche name Huni with Khaba. The Layer pyramid would therefore be Huni's tomb, too.[1][2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Rainer Stadelmann: King Huni: His Monuments and His Place in the History of the Old Kingdom. In: Zahi A. Hawass, Janet Richards (Hrsg.): The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt. Essays in Honor of David B. O’Connor. Band II, Conceil Suprême des Antiquités de l’Égypte, Kairo 2007, p. 425–431.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Miroslav Verner: Die Pyramiden. Rowohlt, Wiesbaden 1999, ISBN 3-499-60890-1, p. 174-177.
  3. ↑ Jean-Philippe Lauer: Histoire monumentale des pyramides d'Égypte. Volume 1: Les pyramides à degrés (IIIe Dynastie). (= Bibliothèque d'étude vol. 39). Institut français d'archéologie orientale - Bibliothèque d'études, Paris 1962, p. 19-22.


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