Perhaps the architects lacked the necessary skill to place it correctly having constructed such a confusing network of corridors on their way to the chamber. The burial chamber is close to, but not quite under, the central axis of the pyramid. It was carved to resemble the serekh motif (echoing the enclosure wall of the Step Pyramid of Djoser) and two eyes were painted onto one end to allow the pharaoh to “look” to the sunrise in the east. A pink granite sarcophagus was found in this chamber.
#Black pyramid rush series
Beyond this a further stair led to a series of corridors, shafts, barriers and chambers to the “King’s chamber”. Each section had its own entrance but they were connected by two corridors.įrom the eastern entrance a stair led down to an ante chamber which contained a niche to hold the canopic jars. The subterranean structures were divided into two parts one for the king (in the eastern quadrant of the pyramid) and the other for two of his wives (in the southern quadrant of the pyramid). It is suggested that the complexity was an attempt to fool tomb robbers but it may also have had a ritual significance, as the chambers were sometimes described as the home of Osiris. Unlike earlier twelfth dynasty pyramids the substructure of the pyramid is a complex network of interconnected passageways and was clearly built as a burial site for the wives of the pharaoh, as well as the king himself. The mudbrick core was built in stepped form perhaps to try, in vain, to give the monument greater stability.
Like other Middle Kingdom pyramids the body of the pyramid was constructed from mudbrick and clay (rather than durable stone) clad in limestone. The base of the pyramid was around seventy-five meters on each side and it would have been around one hundred and five meters when completed. This second pyramid was constructed at Hawara rather than Dashur. The builders reinforced the structure with mudbrick walls and large cedar beams but while this did prevent its immediate collapse Amenemhat chose to build another, more secure, pyramid in which to be buried. His architects failed to incorporate sufficient stress relieving structures in the ceilings of corridors and chambers (particularly the burial chamber) to support the weight of the masonry above them.īy the time the pyramid was being completed the ceilings had sunk by as much as two inches in places, some rather menacing cracks had started to appear in the masonry, and door frames had begun to buckle.The substructure of the pyramid contained a large complex array of chambers and corridors which weakened the pyramid core.He built close to edge of the Nile a mere thirty-three feet above sea-level resulting in the substructure being flooded shortly after the pyramid was completed.The foundations of the pyramid were constructed on unstable ground.
Amenemhat III made a series of errors in this construction:
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