The Pyramid of Ameny Qemau is an ancient Egyptian pyramid in southern Dahshur. It was constructed c. 1790 BC for Ameny Qemau, the 5th king of the 13th Dynasty during the Second Intermediate Period. The stone constituting its upper structure has been entirely robbed, but the damaged substructures remain. It was discovered by Charles Arthur Musès in 1957 and excavated in 1968. The pyramid initially stood 35 metres (115 ft) high with a base length of 52 metres (171 ft). The burial chamber comprised a single colossal quartzite block similar to Amenemhat III‘s, with receptacles for the sarcophagus and the canopic jars hewn out of the block’s interior.
Location of Pyramid of Ameny Qemau
The American expedition in southern Dahshur in 1957 discovered a small and heavily damaged pyramid close to the southeast rim of ancient Lake Dahshur.
Discovery and excavations
The earliest known historical mention of the pyramid of Ameny Qemau is found in the medieval Arab historian Taqi al-Din Ahmad Al-Maqrizi’s “Geography and History of Egypt” book, where Al-Maqrizi describes the “pyramids of Dahshur”. The pyramid of Ameny Qemau was rediscovered in 1957 by a team led by Charles Arthur Musès. Shortly after, in 1968, Vito Maragioglio and Celeste Rinaldi investigated the pyramid’s architecture. More recently, the remains of the king’s funerary equipment were published by Nabil Swelim and Aidan Dodson.
Layout
This pyramid was originally about 35 metres (115 ft) high with a base length of 52 metres (171 ft). While the superstructure is almost destroyed, the substructure is better known. The entrance to the structure was in front of the east side, slightly north of its axis. This entrance leads to a corridor that first apparently led through several small chambers and a barrier before reaching a more extensive section with a stairway leading to the right (north). This short passage led to another stairway angled back towards the west before making a final 90-degree turn towards the south and the burial chamber.
The burial chamber lies almost precisely on the pyramid’s vertical axis. Like several earlier pyramids, it consisted of an enormous quartzite monolith in which the artisans cut two niches, a large one for the coffin and a smaller hole for the king’s canopic chest. After the internment, a mighty lid on the antechamber floor was slid onto the coffer and locked in place by a sliding portcullis slab. Regrettably, these precautions never seemed to foil grave robbers, who, in this case, plundered the tomb and left only fragments of the canopic chest.
This pyramid is interesting because it represents one of the last monumental pyramids in Egypt. After the Middle Kingdom, very few pyramids were built, and the ones that were most often were only mimics of the earlier grand structures.
