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German Archaeologist Throws Light on Pyramid Origin
Wed 11 February, 2004 11:40

By Jonathan Wright

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's ancient pyramids are probably a byproduct of
a decision to build walls around the tombs of kings, a leading expert
on early Egyptian royal burials said Wednesday.

Guenter Dreyer, director of the German Archaeological Institute in
Cairo, said he based his theory on similarities between Egypt's first
pyramid, built at Saqqara south of Cairo for the Pharaoh Zozer in
about 2650 BC, and the structure of the tomb of one of his immediate
predecessors.

The Saqqara pyramid, known as the Step Pyramid because of its unique
shape, began as a flat mound about eight meters (25 feet) high built
over the burial chamber of the pharaoh.

At the slightly earlier tomb of the Pharaoh Khasekhemwy, at the old
royal cemetery at Abydos in southern Egypt, German excavators found
evidence of a similar flat mound covering the central part of the
underground burial complex.

The walls in the central part of the tomb were compacted to about
twice the thickness and half the height of the walls to the sides,
suggesting a heavy weight had once stood on top, Dreyer told Reuters
in an interview.

Khasekhemwy's complex also had one of the niched enclosure walls which
later became a distinctive feature of the dozens of pyramids built
along the western edge of the Nile Valley for hundreds of years to
come, he said.

MOUND OF CREATION

But in the Abydos example, the enclosure wall was much further from
the tomb than in the case of Saqqara.

"My theory is that...these two elements (the mound and the wall) were
united at Saqqara by his successor Zozer and then something happened.
The mound on top of the tomb was hidden by the large surrounding wall
-- it was not visible.

"This was a problem, because this mound I think represented the
primeval mound of creation and guaranteed the resurrection of the
king," said Dreyer.

The architects of the Saqqara complex solved the problem by building
another smaller flat mound on top of the first and then decided to
extend it upwards by adding more mounds.

The Sakkara pyramid is an intermediate stage between the flat mounds,
known as mastabas, of the earlier period and the smooth-sided
classical pyramids of the type found at Giza, just outside the modern
city of Cairo.

Archaeologists have long speculated that the pyramids are an extension
of the mastaba concept but Dreyer's theory adds the enclosure wall as
an explanation for the transition.

Dreyer, who has spent the last decade studying the kings who ruled in
southern Egypt in what was called the pre-dynastic period, before
about 3100 BC, said he now believed he had identified another king
from the period, known by the name of Horus or Hor, the same as that
as the falcon god.

He is basing his theory on a close analysis of two ancient palettes,
flat ceremonial stone plates on which early Egyptians appear to have
recorded historical and mythological events.

Two palettes show a Horus falcon in a context which Dreyer interprets
as the place where the name of a king should appear.

Several palettes have been interpreted as commemorating the conquest
of Nile Delta towns by the kings from the south, a process which
later led to the political unification of Egypt.

The conquest has traditionally been attributed to either King Narmer
or King Aha, who lived about 200 years later.

"He (King Horus) started the whole thing, conquering the Delta,
several generations before Narmer. Why? He wanted to safeguard trade
routes to Palestine which ran along the Delta, where the Egyptians
brought all the wine in," Dreyer said.

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