Pyramid of Senusret II

Pyramid of Senusret II
Senusret II
Coordinates	29°14′N 30°58′E
Ancient name	Ḫˁ Sn-wsr-t Kha Sen-user-et "Senusret shines"
Constructed	Twelfth Dynasty
Material	Mudbrick
Height	48.65 m (159 ft 7 in; 92.84 cu)
Base	107 m (351 ft; 204 cu) (socket level) or 106 m (348 ft; 202 cu) (ground level)
Slope	42°35'
Location within Egypt

The pyramid of Senusret II (Egyptian: Ḫˁ Sn-wsr-t, lit. 'Senusret Shines') at El Lahun is the pyramid complex constructed for the pharaoh Senusret II in the Twelfth Dynasty.

Location and excavation

Karl Richard Lepsius visited the pyramid in the 1840s and conducted a brief archaeological survey of the site. Fifty years later, Flinders Petrie conducted the first comprehensive excavations there. A small team led by N. B. Millet of the Royal Ontario Museum and the architect J. E. Knudstad has been working at the site of the pyramid town and pyramid since 1989. They aim to expand upon Petrie's work by re-gathering architectural details of the monuments there, which Petrie had neglected to record in his reports. On 28 June 2019, the pyramid was opened to visitors for the first time since its discovery.

Mortuary complex

Main pyramid

Senusret II's pyramid was built around and atop a yellow limestone outcrop, approximately 12.2 m (40 ft) high, that the builders used to anchor the core and with the added benefit of reducing construction time and cost. On top of the outcrop, retaining walls were built extending radially outward to the pyramid corners with additional parallel walls spaced between which were then packed with mudbrick. The completed pyramid was encased in fine Tura limestone, which was set into a trench cut into the bedrock intended to prevent a collapse during rainfall, that was plundered in the Nineteenth Dynasty by Ramesses II for his own projects as Petrie discovered from an inscription. It was crowned with a pyramidion of black granite, of which only traces remain.

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  Framework of limestone retaining walls and mudbrick packing of the superstructure
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  Petrie's drawings of the fragments of the black granite pyramidion of Senusret II's pyramid at El-Lahun
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  Exemplar pyramidion from the Black Pyramid of Amenemhat III also from the Twelfth Dynasty

The pyramid had a base length of approximately 106 m (348 ft; 202 cu) at ground level and 107 m (351 ft; 204 cu) at the base of the casing trench about 0.66 m (2 ft 2 in) below ground level. It converged at an average of 42°35′ ± 3′ towards the apex approximately 48.65 m (159 ft 7 in; 92.84 cu) high. The superstructure was surrounded by a sloped sand-filled trench built to absorb rainwater and protect the substructure from flooding. This trench had a short limestone perimeter wall decorated with deep niches, a reference to the enclosure wall of Djoser's step pyramid.

Substructure

Tomb 10

The entry point into an Egyptian pyramid's substructure was always placed on the north side, and had been since Djoser built his step pyramid in the Third Dynasty. This served a religious function by pointing the exit passage towards the circumpolar stars, which the pharaoh joined in the afterlife. Though Sensuret II had a north chapel built, he had the substructure's true entrance hidden-away on the south-east side of the pyramid. This was intended to protect the tomb from thieves, and while Petrie was delayed by months in discovering a passage to the substructure, he discovered that it had nevertheless been robbed millennia prior. Petrie had Fraser investigate a wide pit that was discovered south of the pyramid's south-east side. This first shaft was used for the burial rites of the king, but was too narrow for use in construction. Instead, a second, larger shaft found further south beneath the floor of a princess's tomb was used for transporting the sarcophagus and building materials into the substructure.

The princess's tomb was accessed from a wide shaft 8.64 m (28 ft 4 in) deep. The shaft had a small pit containing an immaculately thrown red pottery bowl and probably also the bones of a calf that were found scattered around the floor. Beyond it lay the tomb's antechamber that was hidden behind a set of fine limestone blocks. It had walls partially of fine white limestone and partially of bare rock with a statue niche carved into the west wall and a pavement that sloped down towards the burial chamber. The burial chamber had walls faced with fine white limestone alongside two adjoining rooms comprising a canopic recess in the east and a offering hall in the north-east. The remains found in the burial chamber included a fragment of a wooden coffin and a green feldspar scarab.

Subterranean passages

In the antechamber, a collapse in the pavement revealed a secondary shaft that connected on its east to a long north–south oriented corridor which was originally closed off by limestone blocks, but that defence had been circumvented by robbers cutting away the corner wall between the two rooms. The corridor measured 18.6 m (61 ft) long, 2.13 m (7.0 ft) wide, and had a 1.22 m (4.0 ft) high vaulted ceiling. It led into a lower tomb or entrance chamber, where the entry to the pyramid substructure was originally discovered in 1889 by way of the narrow shaft. This second shaft connects to the entrance chamber through a 0.79 m (2 ft 7 in) wide hole located above the floor of the chamber.

The entrance chamber is found about 16 m (52 ft 6 in) below ground level, and measured 3.35 m (11.0 ft) on the north–south axis by 5.28 m (17 ft 4 in) on the east–west axis up to a recessed room containing a deep well. Its walls and ceiling remained bare rock. The well room measured 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) north–south by 2.59 m (8 ft 6 in) east–west, while the well itself measured 1.22 m (4.0 ft) by 1.52 m (5.0 ft). The function of the well remains unclear. Petrie made efforts to explore the well for further passages but desisted after having it drained to a depth of 6.71 m (22 ft 0 in) where the determination was made that its base had been reached and that no new chambers would be discovered. It may have served to monitor the level of groundwater. The well room also contained two recesses carved into its northern wall whose purpose is unknown.

The corridor then resumes its northward path from the entrance chamber to Senusret II's antechamber for another 39.17 m (128 ft 6 in) and with an average incline of 6°46′ that is shallower in the lower section and steeper in the upper section. A passage chamber was built 16.46 m (54 ft 0 in) along the corridor separating its two sections. This chamber is uneven with an average length of 3.19 m (10 ft 6 in) north-south and 6.90 m (22 ft 8 in) east–west, and was found filled with debris rock from an unknown source. From the chamber, Brunton recovered pottery from various periods including from the Middle Kingdom, Eighteenth and Nineteenth (or later) Dynasties, and the Roman period. The lower section corridor leading to the passage chamber is 16.46 m (54 ft 0 in) long, 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) wide, with walls 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) tall, and a vaulted ceiling reaching 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) high along its centre. The upper section corridor leading to the antechamber is 22.71 m (74 ft 6 in) long, 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) wide, with walls 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) tall, and a vaulted ceiling reaching 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) high along its centre. The passage terminates at a doorway 1.37 m (4 ft 6 in) wide and 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) tall that leads into the antechamber.

Funerary chambers

The antechamber was cut into the rock of the outcrop and faced with fine white limestone blocks. It measures an average of 3.13 m (10 ft 3 in) north–south by 4.98 m (16 ft 4 in) east–west, with walls 3.46 m (11 ft 4 in) tall, and a gabled-roof reaching 4.41 m (14 ft 6 in) high. In its west end is a passage that opens at 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) wide, but contracts to 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) after 1.06 m (3 ft 6 in) before continuing on for a further 4.54 m (14 ft 11 in) to the burial chamber. The final 0.48 m (1 ft 7 in) of the passage's walls are lined with granite, rather than limestone.

In the south wall of the passage, about a fifth of the way through is a second doorway 1.05 m (3 ft 5 in) wide and 0.41 m (1 ft 4 in) deep through which lies an alternate passage that winds around the burial chamber before eventually entering it from the north at its north-east corner immediately before the sarcophagus. The passage travels south for 10.50 m (34 ft 5 in), then west for 17.74 m (58 ft 2 in), north for 19.89 m (65 ft 3 in), east for 8.41 m (27 ft 7 in), and finally once again south for 7.44 m (24 ft 5 in). It is 1.32 m (4 ft 4 in) wide throughout, but its walls and vaulted ceiling vary in height from 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) and 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) in the first south passage to 1.57 m (5 ft 2 in) and 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) in the remaining passages. The winding passage may have served a symbolic purpose in allowing the king's spirit to leave his tomb on the north to join the circumpolar stars; but it also isolated the burial chamber like an island, possibly an allusion to Osiris's tomb.

The burial chamber is oriented on the east–west axis, has a vaulted ceiling made from granite blocks, and a red granite sarcophagus near its west wall. Despite the precautions taken, the burial chamber was found looted of most of its contents by Petrie. An alabaster offering table inscribed with Senusret II's name, a gold uraeus, and leg bones, believed to belong to the king, are all that remained of the burial. The burial chamber and labyrinth of passageways were shifted south-east of the vertical axis of the pyramid, another deviation from the standard.

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  Entryway into the substructure of the pyramid
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  Senusret II's red granite sarcophagus in the burial chamber
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  Side passage to Senusret II's burial chamber in the substructure

See also

• List of Egyptian pyramids
• Egyptian pyramid construction techniques

Sources

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