Reherischefnacht pyramid

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Reherischefnacht pyramid
Data
place Saqqara
builder Reherischefnacht
construction time 11th dynasty
Type pyramid
Building material limestone
Base dimension 13.10 m
Tilt ?
Cult pyramid no
Queen pyramids no

The Reherischefnacht pyramid is the tomb of the ancient Egyptian official Reherischefnacht. It is located in the south of Saqqara and is attached directly to the queen pyramids of the tomb complex of Pharaoh Pepi I from the 6th dynasty , but was probably only built at the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th dynasty . It is therefore the oldest Egyptian pyramid in which a person was buried who did not belong to the royal family. The pyramid was only built in the early 2000s by the Mission Archéologique Française de Saqqâra under the direction of Audran Labrousse discovered and first researched in more detail in 2005

The pyramid

The pyramid has a side length of only 13.10 m and is therefore significantly smaller than the adjacent queen pyramids. The main building materials used were fragments of limestone , which had originally been built into other structures in the area and which were reused here. For example, sacrificial plates , steles , chapel posts and lintels were found. Many of the blocks are labeled and contain names and titles of previously unknown people from the end of the Old Kingdom . For example, a broken lintel was found that belonged to the grave of a previously unknown wife of Pepis I named Sebutet . Fragments that belonged to the burial chamber of a woman named Behenu were also discovered.

The substructure

From the north a shaft leads down to the burial chamber. This is underground and was built in a small trench. Your ceiling consists of plates, which are at the level of the pyramid base. The foremost of them bears the name of the grave owner written in red. The decoration of the burial chamber is a synthesis of motifs from the 6th and 11th / 12th centuries. Dynasty. A hieroglyphic ribbon that was actually attached to the outside of coffins was combined with the decoration program for the inside of the coffin of the 6th Dynasty. The upper part of the west and south walls is decorated with a device frieze , which represents the burial equipment of Reherischefnacht. The lower part of the two walls and the east wall are inscribed with hieroglyphics. The western part of the inscription consists of Proverbs 214-217 of the pyramid texts , the eastern part of Proverbs 335 of the coffin texts .

literature

  • Catherine Berger-El Naggar, Audran Labrousse: La tombe de Rêhérychefnakht à Saqqâra-Sud, un chaînon manquant? In: Bulletin de la Société Française d'Égyptologie. Vol. 164, Paris 2005, pp. 14-28.
  • Audran Labrousse, Jean Leclant: New discoveries of the Mission Archéologique Française de Saqqâra (campaigns 2001-2005) . In: Sokar. No. 13, 2006, pp. 36-37.
  • Christoffer Theis: The Pyramids of the First Intermediate Period. According to philological and archaeological sources. In: Studies on Ancient Egyptian Culture. (SAK) Vol. 39, Hamburg 2010, pp. 321-339 ( online ).

Web links

Coordinates: 29 ° 51 ′ 14 "  N , 31 ° 13 ′ 4"  E