A team of Egyptian and German archaeologists has discovered new chambers inside the pyramid of Sahura, the second king of the Fifth Dynasty, who ruled around 2400 BC. The chambers, which were hidden behind a low passageway, were likely used to store funerary furniture and offerings for the afterlife of the pharaoh.
The discovery was made as part of a conservation and restoration project inside Sahura’s pyramid, which is located in the necropolis of Abusir, south of Cairo. The project, which started in 2019, was supported by the Antiquities Endowment Fund (AEF) of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) and led by Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, an Egyptologist at Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg (JMU) in Germany.
The aim of the project was to safeguard the substructure of the pyramid, which had suffered from decay and collapse over time. The team focused on cleaning the interior rooms, stabilizing the pyramid from inside, and preventing further damage. In the process, the team succeeded in securing the pyramid’s burial chambers, which had previously been inaccessible.
A Surprising Find
During the restoration work, the team discovered the original dimensions and floor plan of the antechamber, which had deteriorated over time. Consequently, the destroyed walls were replaced with new retaining walls. The eastern wall of the antechamber was badly damaged, and only the northeast corner and about 30 centimeters of the eastern wall were still visible.
Traces of a low passageway that John Perring, a British explorer, had noticed during an excavation in 1836 continued to be excavated. Perring had mentioned that this passage had been full of debris and rubbish and had been impassable due to decay. He had suspected that it might have led to storage rooms. However, during further exploration of the pyramid by Ludwig Borchardt in 1907, these assumptions were called into question by other experts.
All the more surprising was the find of the Egyptian-German team, which actually discovered traces of a passage. Thereby proving that the observations made during Perring’s exploration were correct. The work was continued, and the passage was uncovered. Thus, eight storerooms have been discovered so far.
A New Insight into the Pyramid’s Architecture
Although the northern and southern parts of these magazines, especially the ceiling and the original floor, are badly damaged, remnants of the original walls and parts of the floor can still be seen. Careful documentation of the floor plan and dimensions of each storage room has greatly enhanced the researchers’ understanding of the pyramid’s interior.
During restoration, a balance between preservation and presentation was pursued to ensure the structural integrity of the rooms while making them accessible for future study and potentially the public.
The discovery sheds new light on the architecture of the pyramid of Sahura, who was the first king to be buried at Abusir, a site that became an important royal cemetery for several dynasties. The pyramid is considered one of the most innovative monuments of its time, as it introduced new features such as a causeway decorated with reliefs and a mortuary temple located next to the pyramid instead of in front of it.
The discovery also adds to the knowledge of ancient Egyptian funerary practices and beliefs, as it reveals how the pharaoh prepared for his journey to the afterlife by storing various objects and offerings in his pyramid.
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