Egypt 2022: Dashur

On the afternoon of the first day we continue to the necropolis of Dashur, about 10 km south of Saqqara. Although at some point it contained about 11 pyramids, only the earlier ones, built completely in stone, remain intact. The rest were built in mudbrick over a stone reinforcement structure and have weathered very badly he passing of the centuries.

The two remaining pyramids are the Red Pyramid and the Bent Pyramid, both built for King Snofru, father of King Khufu (Keops). He also had a third pyramid in Al Fayoum.

The Red Pyramid is the first true pyramid built and where King Sneferu was finally buried. The earlier Bent Pyramid starts with very steep sides, and at half height 'bends' into a more gentle slope. The reason for this is explained either from the technical or religious perspective. The technical reasons are that, as the construction proceeded they realised that the structure was not stable, due to the excessive steepness of the pyramid. After all, it was the first time in history to build a smooth pyramid after Djoser's Step Pyramid. When they realised the problem, they changed the slope to a more gentle one. Another innovation that was not continued either was that the surface was not built as a stone lining but used full blocks that were polished on site. The religious description needs to take into account that royal tombs consisted in two tombs, one real (where the king was buried) and another one simbolic (Serdab) that was a copy of the real one and contained a statue of the Ka of the king . In the case of the Bent Pyramid, both tombs coexist into one, being the different slopes of the sides of the pyramid the sides of each of those different tombs.  

Not far from these two pyramids another structure can be seen, it is what remains of the Black Pyramid, built by Amenemhat III. 

While we were visiting the site, a tall dust devil formed, like it was watching the site. According to our guide, the Egyptian word for a dust devil translates for Devil's fart.

Visiting these two pyramids really make you feel like an archaeologist from an adventure film. You need to climb to and entrance at mid-height of the pyramid (both pyramids are around 100 m tall, so that's about 15 stories of irregular steps), enter the pyramid, then climb down a steep ramp for 60 to 90 m, crawl to a large chamber where you need to climb a wooden staircase to another crawling space (this tunnel was hidden and far from the floor of the chamber, to confuse tomb robbers), and after some more crawling and climbing finally arrive to the burial chamber. Everything in a very hot, dark and mostly unventilated space.