Shunet El Zebib (Arabic:شونة الزبيب lit. “raisin barn” or “storage of the raisins”), alternatively named Shuneh and Middle Fort, is a large mudbrick structure located at Abydos in Upper Egypt. Shunet el-Zebib was built circa 2750 B.C. and served as a funerary cult enclosure of the Khasekhemwy, a second dynasty king. The structure is one of Egypt’s oldest standing royal monuments and one of the oldest preserved mudbrick buildings in the world. The two-part funerary complex, consisting of the underground tomb and the above-ground enclosure, is of great architectural importance, as it portrays the earliest stages of the evolution of the pyramid.
The structure includes two concentric rectangular enclosure walls. Most of the inner wall is intact, while only part of the outer wall remains. The enclosure walls stand 11-12 meters high in some places. Still, they suffer from structural instabilities due to a rising water table due to agricultural development, animal intervention, and wind and rain erosion.
Location of Shunet el Zebib
Shunet el Zebib stands north of Abydos, Balyana, in the centre of the Sohag governorate.
Description
Shunet El Zebib is made of hardened mud bricks. It consists of two surrounding rectangular walls, interlaced like a shoe box. The outer wall measures 137 × 77 m and is c. 5 m thick and 12 m high. The inner wall (perimeter wall) measures 123 × 56 m and is c. 3 m wide and 8 m high. The facade of the outer wall was niched, imitating a royal palace facade. The enclosure provides two entrances, one at the eastern corner and one at the northern corner. These entrances once consisted of massive, stone-made door jambs; the material of the door wings is unknown.
The inner area consists of a large open court; it is unknown if there were some substructures and more significant buildings (such as a shrine or temple). In 1988, Australian Egyptologist David O’Connor discovered a square, flat mount made of refined limestone rubble, covered with mudbricks and four flat steps. It is located in the very midst of the court. Its true purpose is still unknown. The only cultic building that can be archaeologically attested is a small chapel close to the south-eastern corner. Its ruins are also made of hardened mud bricks.
History
Shunet El Zebib was founded around 2700 BC. by the ancient Egyptian king Khasekhemwy, the last ruler of the 2nd Dynasty. The Shunet was built as a funerary enclosure where the deceased king was worshipped and memorised. Such a place was named “house of the Ka” or “Ka-house” by the Egyptians, and it was some forerunner to the later mortuary temples known from the Old Kingdom period.
As usual for the Early Kingdom, Abydene rulers had their mastaba tomb with a separate funerary enclosure. Because Khasekhemwy and his predecessor Peribsen were buried at Abydos and had their funerary enclosures at the exact location, some Egyptologists believe both kings belonged to a royal dynasty line named Thinite Dynasty. This could indeed explain Peribsen’s and Khasekhemwy’s choice of place. However, it is unknown how long the mortuary enclosure of Khasekhemwy was in use, and its Ancient Egyptian name is unknown.
Because of its thick and interlaced walls, it was a long time thought that Shunet El Zebib was a military fortress, which led to its alternative designation as “Middle Fort”. However, archaeological findings provide only cultic and religious activities, and a location close to cemeteries speaks instead against any military use. Khasekhemwy’s enclosure domain is now evaluated as the most advanced and massive version of a Ka-house.
Archaeological and Egyptological importance
Shunet El Zebib is important to archaeologists, Egyptologists and historians alike. The Institute of Fine Arts in New York City led and promoted several preservation campaigns between 2002 and 2007, primarily focused on the enclosure walls. These are heavily damaged and, in some sections, in danger of collapse. Besides natural ageing due to neglect after abandonment, most damage comes from local hornets of the species Vespa Orientalis. They burrow their nests into the walls, hollow out the inner bricks and thus make the walls highly unstable. Wild jackals are another danger to the structure, which attentively observe excavators’ diggings and then burrow under the system’s foundation, hoping to catch roused prey.
Under the guidance of Matthew Douglas Adams and David O’Connor, preservation works still focus on filling gaps and holes in the enclosure walls. Approximately 250,000 new mud bricks were already created. In the meantime, the southern entrance has been reconstructed at the site.
Because of the stunning architectural similarities between Shunet El Zebib and the Pyramid complex of 3rd dynasty king Djoser, archaeologists and Egyptologists often describe the Middle Fort as a direct forerunner of the step pyramid complexes. The flat-stepped inner mount of the Shunet El Zebib is even considered a proto-pyramid.
2008 World Monuments Watch
With support from the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, WMF and the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University are working on the conservation of Shunet el-Zebib. From September 2008 to August 2009, the project’s focus was the conservation and comprehensive stabilisation of the mudbrick enclosure at Khasekhemwy. To begin the project, 80 local workers needed to fabricate 150,000 mud bricks of the same dimension and a similar composition to the originals. The team then focused on stabilising the monument using these bricks in the three most vulnerable and unstable areas: the West Gate, the east inner wall, and the west perimeter. In addition, bricks were added to areas where serious structural weaknesses were likely to develop—filled in smaller holes in the structure made by hornets and foxes. Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities now maintains the site.
Shunet el-Zebib is the only surviving standing structure of a series of funerary complexes built between 3000 and 2750 B.C. by the kings of the First and Second dynasties. It is the only example of this earliest royal monumental funerary construction tradition. The structure is also vital in the evolution of the pyramid. Djoser, Khasekhemwy‘s successor, built the Saqqara Step Pyramid, the earliest pyramid, the design of which is influenced by tomb and enclosure structures such as Shunet el-Zebib.
