Great Pyramid Complex
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Like its successors, the great pyramid was accompanied by all of the standard elements of a pyramid complex. Unfortunately most of them have since degraded or disappeared. Originally, the pyramid was surrounded by a Tura limestone wall over eight feet high, which also enclosed a paved limestone courtyard. Access to the courtyard was from the valley temple, mortuary temple and the causeway. Flanking the pyramid there were three small pyramids intended for Egyptian queens, a small cult pyramid, and a number of boat pits and other structures. The pyramid itself was cased in Tura Limestone, which would have shone in the midday sun, and topped by a gold pyramidion.
Boat Pits
There are five boat pits around the great pyramid, and two smaller boat pits beside the queen's pyramids. Three of the pits were empty but fragments of gilded wood found in the causeway suggest that the boat pit beside it once housed a boat. The two pits on the south side of the pyramid still contained their boats. These pits were not the same shape as the other three pits (which were shaped roughly like a boat). Instead they were rectangular trenches which contained disassembled boats. As part of the pyramid's southern enclosure wall runs over one of the pits confirming that the pits were constructed before the end of the fourth dynasty (when the wall was completed).
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Both pits had a roof of huge limestone slabs, but only one has been fully excavated (to protect the contents of the other). weighing between 17 and 20 tons each. The largest is about 4.8 meters long. The boat had been dismantled into 1,224 pieces and laid out in the rough shape of the fully constructed boat. It was reconstructed and can now be viewed in all its glory. It is 43.3 meters (142 feet) long and made of precious cedar wood and acacia. The boat's prow and stern are in the form of papyrus talks. The prow at the stern end is bent over, making the boat reminiscent of an ancient style of papyrus reed boat. There is a small cabin or shrine in the middle of the boat (enclosed within a reed-mat structure with papyriform poles) and a small cabin at the front (probably for the captain). There were ten oars, but no mast, or sail, making it suitable only for river travel. |
The craftsmen who constructed the pits left numerous marks and inscriptions, including eighteen cartouches containing the name of Djedefre . This suggests that some parts of the pyramid complex were completed after Kufu's death by his successor. It is also possible that Djedefre's name appears because he used the boats when burying Khufu.
The boats may have been intended for the king's use in the afterworld, or may have comprised the funerary procession. Others have suggested that the boats were the ones used by the pharaoh during his lifetime to attend festivals, and so they were sacred. This seems unlikely following the discovery of wood shavings suggesting that the boats were built on-site. It is also notable that there are no water marks on the hull of the boat which has been reassembled. Hawass, maintains that the boats had different functions. Those by the temple allowed the king to travel throughout Egypt while those to the south were intended to carry the soul of the pharaoh through the heavens with the sun god. The boat by the causeway may have been used in the funeral or have been dedicated to the goddess Hathor. On the other hand, Lehner considers the southern boat pits to have been ritually buried as the pits are not boat-shaped and are too small to have contained the fully assembled boats Therefore, he suggests that they were the funerary boats which were dismantled to discharge their magical energy, and then buried outside the enclosure wall. The others served a ritual purpose.
The Causeway
According to Herodotus the whole causeway was decorated with fine reliefs. Unfortunately, only a few fragments have been recovered. The foundations rose to an incredible one hundred and thirty feet (over 40m) in order to link the plateau to the valley temple.
The Mortuary and Valley temples
The mortuary temple was destroyed centuries ago. Patches of the black basalt paved courtyard remain along with the sockets which held huge granite pillars that formed a colonnade around the courtyard. At the western end of the temple there is a recess (possibly a sanctuary) flanked by two store rooms. The interior walls were made of limestone and were originally carved with fine reliefs. This temple is the first known temple to make use of limestone, granite and basalt, but there is no evidence of the five niches which later became standard in mortuary temples. There is an area of basalt pavement at the far end of the causeway which is thought to be the remains of the valley temple, but nothing else remains.
The Queen´s Pyramids
There are three satellite pyramids on the north side of the pyramid, which are often referred to as the Queen´s Pyramids. The northern-most pyramid (G1a) was originally ascribed to Queen Meritetes (or Mertitiotes), but is now considered to be the secondary burial of Queen Hetepheres I . It originally stood 30.25 meters high, but lost its outer casing and about two-thirds of its height. It was composed of a yellow limestone core in three or four steps encased in Tura limestone, fragments of which remain.
The entrance is in the north wall, just off the north-south axis. Inside the pyramid, a corridor descends to the mid point of the structure before turning right into a small burial chamber cut into the rock and surfaced with limestone blocks. Although there is a recess carved into the west wall of the chamber, no sarcophagus was found in the tomb. An alabaster canopic box and jars, complete with residue from the mummification process, was discovered in a hidden compartment. Vyse found fragments of basalt in the burial chamber which he assumed were from a sarcophagus, but they are now thought to have come from the pavement of Khufu´s mortuary temple. Very few remains of the small mortuary temple that originally stood before the east wall of his pyramid exist, and its archaeological reconstruction is very difficult. There was a small mortuary chapel attached to the pyramid, but little remains. A small boat pit was discovered to the south of the pyramid, though no trace of any boats has been found. At a later date (possibly in the 26th Dynasty) the pit was divided into compartments and may have become a store room. To the east of the pyramid, a deep burial shaft was discovered filled with numerous precious objects belonging to Queen Hetepheres I .
The second pyramid (G1b) is now ascribed to Queen Meritetes , although there is no substantial evidence to support this. Others have suggested that the (unnamed) mother of Djedefre was originally interred in this pyramid. While Meritetes is often cited as the mother of Djedefre, an inscription found on a false door in a nearby mastaba has caused some to doubt that she was buried in G1b. The inscription on the false door states, "King´s wife, his beloved to Horus, Mertitiotes: beloved of the Favourite of the Two Goddesses; she who says anything whatsoever and it is done for her. Great in the favour of Snefru; Great in the favour of Khufu, devoted to Horus, honoured under Khafre, Mertitiotes". The mention of Snefru and Khufu suggests that the mastaba cannot have been an earlier tomb which was later discarded in favour of G1b
It sits about ten meters south of G1a, on the same north-south axis, and would have been about 30 meters high. It similar in construction to G1a; all of the subterranean passages are cut from the rock, and the burial chamber is lined with limestone. Unfortunately, it is also in very poor condition, and the only sign that there was a mortuary chapel are a few markings on the rock. There is evidence of a boat pit to the south of the pyramid in 1953, but it was filled with stone and rubble in order to build a road on the area.
The southernmost of the three pyramids (G1c) is ascribed to Queen Henutsen . It is similar to the other two small pyramids in construction, but according to Lehner it is the most complete. However, Reisner claimed that the casing was not finished and although an area seems to have been prepared for a boat pit, it was never excavated. It lies about 3.8 meters south of G1b and is slightly offset to the east. It originally stood 29.62 meters high. The pyramid is composed of three steps of mastaba like sections. Near the bottom is a packing layer composed of soft yellow limestone, and some of the fine limestone casing is still in place. The burial chamber was also lined with limestone and featured a four centimetre deep niche in the south wall, the purpose of which is unknown.
It seems that G1c was not part of the original ground plan. Its southern side doesn´t line up with the great pyramid, but with a neighbouring double mastaba, which may have belonged to Prince Khafkhufu I (also known as Khafre ). To the west of the entrance there are blocks of limestone set at a right angle to the face of the pyramid, although may have been added some time later. We have no details on the construction of the mortuary temple which some argue was hastily built using mudbrick by Shepseskaf . The structure had been destroyed by the middle kingdom and was reconstructed during the 18th dynasty and then altered again during the 21st and 26th dynasties as a cult site for the goddess Isis. The reconstructions retained some of the original wall which was carved to resemble matting (a material used in ancient chapels). The entrance in the east wall is intact, but only one block of limestone remains on the south side. It is carved with a niche design
The Satellite Pyramid
The only remains of this pyramid are the T-shaped trench made by the descending passage and chamber. The possible pyramidion for this pyramid was also found in fragments at the site. It has been reassembled and is kept by the pyramid.
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