New pyramid found in Egypt

	November 12, 2008
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A new pyramid has been discovered deep beneath Egyptian sands, archaeologists announced. The 4,300-year-old monument is believed to be the tomb of Queen Sesheshet, the mother of Pharaoh Teti, the founder ancient Egypt’s 6th dynasty.

Once nearly five stories tall, the pyramid—or at least what remains of it—lay beneath 23 feet (7 meters) of sand as well as a small shrine and mud-brick walls from later periods.

The discovery is the third known “subsidiary” pyramid to the tomb of Teti. It’s also the second pyramid discovered this year in Saqqara, an ancient royal burial complex near current-day Cairo.

(See “‘ Lost’ Pyramid Found Buried in Egypt” [June 5, 2008].)

“I always say you never know what the sands of Egypt might hide,” said Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

“This might be the most complete subsidiary pyramid ever found at Saqqara,” added Hawass, who is also a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

Surprise in the Sand

Archaeologists found remnants of a white limestone casing for the surviving, 16-foot-tall (5-meter-tall) pyramid base. The angle of the base helped them determine that the pyramid’s walls stood at a 51-degree angle.

Based on that angle, the team determined that the pyramid was originally 46 feet (14 meters) tall and about 72 feet (22 meters) square at its base.

The researchers were somewhat surprised to find a pyramid here, since they thought the area had been exhausted. Archaeologists had already found subsidiary pyramids for Teti’s two principal wives Iput I and Khuit, a hundred years ago and in 1994, respectively.

Teams have been digging in the area for more than 20 years.

“One hundred years ago they used to take sand and put it in unexcavated areas,” Hawass said. “The archaeologists in the past used this area as a location for the sand. No one could think there is anything here.” Tomb robbers, however, knew the pyramid was there. Archaeologists found that a shaft had been created to allow access to Sesheshet’s funerary chamber.

As a result, the archaeologists don’t expect to find Sesheshet’s mummy when they reach the burial chamber weeks from now. They do anticipate finding inscriptions about the queen, whose name evokes the goddess of history and writing, Seshat.

Starting from the 4th dynasty (2616 to 2494 B.C.), pharaohs often built pyramids for their wives and mothers.

“Mothers were revered in ancient Egypt,” said Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, who was not involved in the discovery.

“Building pyramids for one’s mother in her dead state &113; was fairly emphasized in the whole vision of kingship that the ancient Egyptians had.”

Teti might have reserved a special place for Sesheshet because she came from a powerful family and probably supported the ascendancy of her son to the throne during turmoil at the end of the 5th dynasty.

“She’s one of the important ladies at that time,” said Hakim Haddad, general director of excavations in Egypt.

“At the end of the 5th dynasty and the beginning of the 6th dynasty, there was a conflict between two branches of the royal families.”

The American University’s Ikram added, “I assume Teti thought it would be a good plan to make his mother a pyramid.”

“That was something that was instituted during the person’s lifetime and was a very public way of expressing his debt to her, his connection to her, and her importance in Egypt politically and as a symbol for kingship.”

The SCA’s Hawass said: “You can discover a tomb or a statue, but to discover a pyramid it makes you happy. And a pyramid of a queen—queens have magic. The name of a queen is magic.”

Via: National Geographic