For centuries Egypt's great symbols of the sun-god have inspired speculation, and the totally unexpected discovery of the 110th pyramid adds to the mystery, writes Nevine El-Aref Click to view caption The discovery two weeks ago of a hitherto- unknown pyramid at Abu Roash, eight kilometres north of the Giza plateau, has caused great excitement. While carrying out a routine excavation at the south-eastern corner of the pyramid of Djedefre, who reigned from 2524-2516BC and was the son and successor of the Pharaoh Khufu, a Franco-Swiss mission found a well-preserved limestone structure in the form of a mastaba. The discovery soon gave rise to controversy. Was it a true or a ritual, satellite pyramid? While Egyptologists claimed the newly-discovered structure was a so- called satellite pyramid, used as a symbolic chamber for the continuation of Djedefre's cult, others claimed that, on the contrary, it was a true pyramid built for the burial of a queen or a princess. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), was in no doubt. "This pyramid is quite clearly the burial place of a member of Djedefre's family", he said. "It is clear from the evidence that it is not a ritual structure. First, it lies south-east of a pyramid so it cannot be a ritual pyramid because these are always found at the south-western side of the Pharaoh's pyramid complex. Secondly, part of a sarcophagus was found in one of the chambers, which attests to it being burial place. And finally, "Hawass summed up, "a four-metre deep burial shaft has been found at the pyramid's northern gate, which contains some of the queen's funerary equipment. How can we dispute such evidence?" According to the Franco-Swiss team which made the discovery, Djedefre's pyramid, of which little remains, was probably designed to be 106.2m to a side at the base, but there is some uncertainty about the angle of the slope. Its theoretical height would have been between 57 and 67 metres. Hawass explained that during clearance of the shaft at the new pyramid the team had found fragments of canopic jars, an alabaster vessel bearing Khufu's "Horus name", and inscribed pottery fragments similar to one found in Djoser's southern tomb in the Step Pyramid Complex at Saqqara. "The jar bearing Khufu's name shows Djedefre's devotion to his father", Hawass said. "He became Pharaoh following the death of his brother Kawab, Khufu's eldest son, and his accession was not without trial. A quarrel ensued among the brothers as to who should take over the throne. Djedefre, supported by his mother, ruled for a brief eight years before he died and was succeeded by his brother Khafre. The standard elements of a pyramid complex are the pyramid itself, a mortuary temple and valley temple, a queen's pyramids and a satellite pyramid. This is clear from a survey of remains of pyramid complexes along the whole stretch of the Nile valley from Abu Roash, north of Giza, to Meidum south of the Fayoum. The so-called "southern tomb" of the Step Pyramid complex of Djoser at Saqqara may be the precursor of later "satellite pyramids", like those within the "Bent Pyramid" complex of Sneferu at Dahshur, and Khufu's satellite pyramid, discovered by Hawass in the 1990s. "It was during clearing operations of Khufu's pyramid complex that I found the satellite pyramid", Hawass said. "It was a small, 20m-square stricture with a T-shaped descending passage leading to a chamber. The side walls of this chamber leaned inward, somewhat like a tent, similar to the galleries under the east side of Djoser's pyramid. These features do not at all parallel the new discovery at Abu Roash". Hawass admits the precise function of satellite pyramids is not known, although the subject has been debated at length. "But they were an important element in a royal funerary complex in the Old Kingdom", he said. Hawass says the most frequently cited theory is that they are symbolic burials for the Pharaoh as a ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt, but other theories put forward are that they are tombs for the viscera of the deceased, tombs for royal crowns, or burials for the placenta. "They may also have been places for the Pharaoh's ka, as temporary storage for the body, solar symbols, or even dummy tombs connected with the Sed festival", he added. According to Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, a large alabaster pot 36cm high, a basalt measuring tool, burnt clay bread plaques, canopic jars and limestone fragments, probably of a sarcophagus, were also among the objects unearthed.
