Saqqara. The Pyramid of Userkaf.

- SAQQARA -

The Pyramid of Userkaf

The Pyramid Userkaf, is officially dated as the first Pyramid of the V Dynasty. It is located in Saqqara, north-east of the Pyramid of Djoser. First it was described in 1839 by John Perring.

Karl Lepsius included the Pyramid into the list of Pyramids under the number XXXI and described it. In 1831, an Italian Egyptologist Orazio Maruchchi has discovered the entrance to the Pyramid on its northern side. Only one who managed to explore and describe the burial room of the pyramid was John Perring, who got inside the pyramid in 1839, by the tunnel, created by ancient robbers.

Some time later, after Perring researches, the entrance to the Pyramid became impossible again, due to the collapse of the Descending Passage walls. The Pyramid was reopened by Jean-Philippe Lauer in 1948.
The earthquake in 1991 has completely blocked the entrance inside the Pyramid.

The whole Userkaf complex consists of three Pyramids: the Pyramid Userkaf, Satellite Pyramid and the Pyramid of Neferheteps. Last one is destroyed, and we can see only a couple of ceiling blocks of the "burial chamber".

Click on the camera icon to get a picture of the corresponding place. Click on the name of the object to go to its description.

The Pyramid of Usercaf.

The Entrance.

Descending Passage Slope - 27 degrees.
Descending Passage floor - granite.
The orientation of the Pyramid - 3 degrees to the west.

The last picture of the previous row shows the slope of the Descending Passage.

Here are photos of the shafts, located on the northern side of the Pyramid.

Basalt floor and south Pyramid complex of Userkaf.

The following five photos depict the direction of the eastern corner stone of the floor masonry.

The Pyramid Satellite.

The slope of the Descending Passage - 28.5 degrees. Entrance to the Pyramid is completely buried under the layers of the sand. The slope of the Descending Passage was measured, due to the few survived blocks on the northern side of the Pyramid (photos 2 and 3).

The Pyramid of Neferheteps.

The Descending Passage slope - 26 degrees.
The slope of the Pyramid walls - 51.5 degrees.
The angle of the ceiling blocks - 37.5 degrees.
The orientation of the Pyramid - 3 degrees west.

The last row shows the slope of the walls of the Pyramid of Neferheteps and the slope of the Descending Passage. The last two pictures are showing the gepgraphical direction of the Pyramid of Neferheteps.

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