Although his father Senwosret II built a pyramid at el-Lahun,
Senwosret III chose a site to the north at Dahshur, to the north-east
of Snefru's Red Pyramid, where the necropolis borders South Saqqara.
Although the ancient name of this monument is not known, it is the
largest of the Dynasty XII pyramids as would befit one of the most
important Middle Kingdom rulers. |
The mudbrick stepped core of this pyramid was once covered with blocks
of fine Tura limestone, which have now almost completely disappeared
so that all that remains of the monument is a huge pile of rubble
rising to around 30m from the desert surface. Originally its height
was thought to be about 61.25m and its base length is 105m. Of the
early explorers, Perring and Vyse first visited the pyramid in 1839
and it was later excavated by Jacques de Morgan, who was the first to
enter the structure in 1895 via an ancient robbers tunnel. The
pyramid's original entrance was concealed beneath the pavement of the
courtyard to the north-west of the western side and a small 'entrance'
chapel constructed on the northern side was obviously intended to
deceive robbers.
A vertical shaft led eastwards from the pavement to a descending
corridor before turning south into two chambers, magazines to the east
and the antechamber and the burial chamber to the west. The plastered
and whitewashed granite walls of the burial chamber were supported by
a false ceiling of granite which concealed a vaulted roof consisting
of five pairs of huge limestone beams. A false door, also of
limestone, was painted red to simulate granite. At the western end of
the burial chamber a huge empty granite sarcophagus was found,
decorated with a motif of fifteen niches and near the southern wall a
niche which would have been intended to contain a canopic chest was
also empty. Some archaeologists have voiced doubts about whether the
king was ever buried in his Dahshur pyramid, suggesting that he may
have been interred instead in his complex funerary monument at Abydos.
His empty and unusually-positioned burial chamber at Dahshur lends
support to this hypothesis, but if it is true then we still do not
know the reasons for Senwosret's decision.
De Morgan discovered a second shaft to the north-east of the pyramid
which is connected to a complex of four tombs for royal ladies. Above
the ground the superstructures of the tombs resembled small pyramids
which covered shafts giving access to two galleries. The gallery at
the lower level had eight niches containing mostly plundered burials
of royal princesses - but in two of these, inscribed sarcophagi were
found naming princesses Menet and Seneb-senebty. The remains of the
burial of Princess Sithathor, a daughter of Senwosret II, were also
found and although her coffin lay empty, a canopic chest with four
alabaster lidded jars remained, along with a hidden chest containing
the princess's jewellery and other funerary goods. De Morgan also
found another empty coffin and a collection of jewellery belonging to
Queen Meret, wife of Senwosret III. These treasures are now on display
in Cairo Museum.
On the southern side of Senwosret's monument de Morgan found three
more mastabas, which have recently been found to be small pyramids,
also belonging to royal women. While two of these were entered by de
Morgan, the third entrance was not discovered until 1994 when the New
York Metropolitan Museum of Art Expedition, directed by Dieter Arnold,
was excavating the area. This shaft, known as 'Mastaba 9', leads to
the burial chamber of Queen Khnemet-nefer-heget, known as Weret, wife
of Senwosret II and mother of Senwosret III. The Met Expedition found
the Queen's sarcophagus, canopic jars and another rich cache of
jewellery.
The king's pyramid complex, which included the pyramids of the royal
ladies, was enclosed by a square perimeter wall decorated on the
outside with niches. A small mortuary temple, now destroyed, lay at
the centre of the eastern side of the pyramid. In a second phase of
construction the perimeter wall was extended to north and south and
another larger 'southern temple' was constructed, with a courtyard and
causeway. The causeway has not yet been investigated and a valley
temple has never been found, but to the south-west of the complex a
mudbrick vaulted structure was found buried by sand. Close to this was
a crypt containing the burial of six wooden funerary boats, each 6m
long. |
