Archaeologists Announce Discovery Of A 3,700 Year-Old Pyramid In Egypt

Find Your Perfect ONLINE JOB

Egyptian archaeologists have announced the amazing discovery of a pyramid that is thought to be around 3,700 years old. The pyramid dates back to ancient Egypt's 13th Dynasty. The remains of the pyramid were discovered just north of King Sneferu's famous bent pyramid in the Dahshur royal necropolis, which is located 24 miles south of Cairo. The team is currently trying to determine the size of the Egyptian pyramid because the remains discovered are the inner structures of the pyramid, which include a corridor that leads to the lobby, which then rises from the ground level up to a ramp on one side. The interior walls and columns of the pyramid have also been found engraved with lines of hieroglyphics. Because of the bent slopes on the sides of the pyramid, the archaeology team thinks this pyramid could be one of the earliest examples of an attempt to build a smooth-sided pyramid, similar to Sneferu's pyramid.

King Sneferu was a pharaoh from the Fourth Dynasty. All of Sneferu's pyramids included funerary complexes. The Dahshur necropolis was the known burial site for high ranking officials and courtiers. And the famous Bent Pyramid is one of the first examples of the transitioning style of pyramids. The original slope was at a 55-degree angle in the Bent pyramid, but the ground under the pyramid was unstable, which caused it to buckle. So the pyramid builders constructed a case around the base, which, as the rest of the pyramid's sides were at a 43-degree angle, gives it its bent shape. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt suggests that King Sneferu had a reign from around 2613 BC to 2589 BC, which is a reign of 24 years, while Rolf Krauss suggests a reign of 30-years and Stadelmann suggests a 48-year reign. King Sneferu built at least three pyramids that are still standing today and introduced some major innovations in both the design and construction of pyramids in Ancient Egypt.

The Egyptian pyramids are an ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt. As of November 2008, there were between 118 to 138 identified Egyptian pyramids. Most were of these pyramids were built as tombs for the Egyptian Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. The earliest known Egyptian pyramids can be found at Saqqara, northwest of the Ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis. The earliest pyramid among these is the Pyramid of Djoser which was built around 2630 BC to 2611 BC which was during the third dynasty. This ancient pyramid and its surrounding complex were designed and built by the architect, Imhotep. The most famous of Egyptian pyramids are the pyramids found at Giza, which is located on the outskirts of Cairo. Several of the Giza pyramids are among the largest structures ever built. The Pyramid of Khufu located at Giza is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids. It is the only pyramid of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World that is still in existence. The shape of the Egyptian pyramids is thought to represent the primordial mound which the Egyptians believed the earth was created. The shape of the pyramids are thought to be representative of the descending rays of the sun, and most pyramids were faced with highly reflective, polished, white limestone, to give the pyramids their brilliant appearance when viewed from afar. Egyptian pyramids were often named in ways that referred to solar luminescence.

This is just one of the trending news stories you will find on the IFL Science site. On the site, you will find other trending news, environment, new technology, trending videos, space, health and medicine and more. **

Learn MORE at IFL Science


To help with slow website load, we have put all photos for this article here: View photo gallery.