Wednesday, November 19, 2008

New Pyramid Discovered in Egypt at Saqqara


First time I went to Egypt, I followed the great army of tourists to Giza and its world famous pyramids ...


... but then at dusk as a trickle of one I climbed Mycerinas or Menkaure, the smallest of the three great structures ... and took a (sadly double-exposed) photo from the top to document and prove my 'feat' (aka my crime) ...


So, being a seriously pyramid-focussed person, my attention was captured by the discovery earlier this month of a new pyramid (the 118th) in Egypt - this time at Saqqara and not far from the Step Pyramid of Djoser ...


With a square base of a little over 72 feet each side, the 4500 years old building newly excavated from the sand is believed to be the tomb of Queen Seshseshet, the mother of the sixth dynasty Old Kingdom Pharoah Teti 1.


There are plans to enter the structure shortly to search for inscriptions/whatever that will definitively identify the person for whom it was built.

I'll keep you posted - though I suspect this is not a Tutankhamun situation, as it appears to have been broken into in ancient times!
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2 comments:

  1. AntipodeanPtNovember 21, 2008 at 7:06 AM

    Despite the same old-same old story of tomb raiders(riders sound so much better, did you catch that movie Arabesque? :-P)this is the most exciting news story of the year for me along with the images of the exoplanets and possibly Obama if I cared about America or thought it had pride of place in things other than gay porn. Not that it doesn't endear it to me, of course.
    The step pyramid at Saqqara was an early inspiring image for me. I was 4, literate but unread and fascinated by all things very ancient and some fantasies very much in the future. This discovery combines a bit of both and I am in cloud nine that you posted on/about this!
    Thank you, take care, blog on and I was "disabled" at a certain social network thingy we had in common. Obscene, moi? Wrong guy, methinks.
    Methanks you profusely for the knowledge that I am not the only pyramid-focused ..obsessed person in the world.
    Kudos! ;)

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  2. nickwallacesmithNovember 22, 2008 at 12:33 AM

    hey pete

    and gay guy riders even better! crude i know but ... .

    the thriller with gregory peck? i remember hieroglyph codes but not much else ... ?

    the new pyramid's pretty rivitting isn't it - would love to go back to egypt just to see it. i've wandered all over the country - up to the nubian border beyond abu sibel - and have great memories of chatting to very soft spoken and hospital sudanese engineers in a cafe - they asked me tojoin them and we chatted for some hours - egyptians really have kept the art of conversation alive and since ancient times.

    best as always

    nick

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