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Restoration of the 4,400-year-old Pyramid of Sahura has prompted researchers to create a more comprehensive blueprint of the structure.
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Using lidar imaging, the team confirmed the existence of previously unknown rooms that may have been used as storage rooms.
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The next step is to enter a room where royal grave goods may have been stored.
Storage rooms aren’t always the most fascinating places to discover or investigate. But things get even more interesting when the storage chambers are 4,400 years old and were previously a complete mystery.
Furthermore, any chance of discovering items from ancient royal tombs is exciting.
While surveying the Pyramid of Sahura, a 4,400-year-old Egyptian ruin that was originally the first burial site of King Abusir, researchers discovered multiple storage chambers whose existence was completely unknown before.
The 155-foot-tall site has been undergoing conservation and restoration work since 2019, but a research team only recently discovered the pyramid’s original dimensions and realized that the original floor plan of the antechamber had deteriorated over time. When this structural decay occurs, the old walls are replaced with new retaining walls, changing some of the interior structure. While researchers working on the pyramid in 1836 believed that discovered passages filled with “debris and rubbish” might lead to storage chambers, others later disagreed, and the passages have not been fully explored.
But that all changed. An Egyptian-German team discovered the two passages (vindicating the 1836 discovery) as well as eight storage chambers in the ancient pyramid.
“Although the northern and southern parts of the magazines, especially the ceilings and the original floors, were severely damaged, remnants of the original walls and parts of the floors are still visible,” the team wrote in a press release from the University of Würzburg.
To get a complete view of the chamber, the team used a portable LiDAR scanner to perform 3D laser scanning. This provides a detailed survey of the interior of the pyramid. “This advanced technology enables comprehensive mapping of vast exterior areas as well as narrow interior corridors and rooms,” the team wrote. “Frequent scans provide real-time updates on progress and create a permanent record of exploration efforts.”
Sahura is located within the Abu Sir complex, a popular burial site for the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty near the Nile River. Although not as prominent as other ancient pyramid complexes, the necropolis contains 13 key buildings.
Finding and mapping unknown caches is just the first step in the process of exploring Sahura. Next comes the actual restoration of the room, a process the team says they hope will “revolutionize the view of the historical development of pyramid structures and challenge existing paradigms in the field”.
A noble purpose for a set of storage areas.
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