DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1033#0013
THE PYRAMID OF HAWARA.
13
The Nile mud, brought in by the stream which has
always run through this valley, is deposited within a
quarter of a mile of the pyramid ; thus any amount
could be obtained close to hand, for making the mud
bricks of which the pyramid is composed. The
relation of the pyramid to the labyrinth on the south
side of it is shown in the plan, PI. XXV of last year's
volume, " Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoe."
The material of the bulk of the pyramid was mud
brick, laid in beds of clean yellow sand. This was
covered with a casing of the usual fine limestone,
weathering with a brown coat outside. Thus the
original appearance was exactly like that of the other
pyramids of the Memphite district. The fragments
of this casing I have found around the pyramid; and
one piece shows an angle of 480 45' + 3'. It can
hardly be doubted that this was constructed therefore
as a rise of 8 on a base of 7, as that requires the angle
48° 48' 51", and would be laid out by a cubit and
handbreadth vertically for each cubit horizontally.
Two other pieces however give 490 51' and 52° 25', so
that the angle is not well fixed.
18. The question of the size of the pyramid is not
easily settled. The whole of the casing has been
removed apparently, as not a single piece was found
in position all along the middles of the sides, though
that is the most favourable place for its preservation.
Not only is the casing all removed, but the pavement
also, excepting at the N.W. corner, and in the middle
of the north side. At the latter place (see PL VI, top
corner) it is covered with concreted stone chips so
firmly that it is impossible now to cut them away
without disfiguring any traces of the place of the
casing which might have remained. At the N.W.
corner I very carefully cleaned and brushed the
paving which remains, and searched for any traces of
the casing. At 140 inches from the brick core there
was some mortar, showing the casing to have covered
that; and at about 160 there were general signs of a
weathering having taken place beyond that point,
which suggested that the casing extended up to there.
This distance it will be seen (PI. VI) agrees very well
with the position of the slope of the core brickwork ;
and it is certain that 30 inches less, or as much more,
would have been an improbable thickness of casing.
This position requiring 65 inches thickness from the
sloping core, while it is not likely to have been either
as thin as 35 or as thick as 95.
The matter may be more closely settled if we can
see any theoretical reason for assigning a particular
thickness of casing. The entrance passage is about
midway between the middle and the S.W. corner of
the south face (see PI. II) ; if the axis of it were
exactly so the casing foot would need to be only
7J inches, in place of 160 outside of the brick core;
or if the west side of the passage were taken the
casing would still be but 115 inches below, which
would be impossibly thin on the sloping core. But
another connection to examine is the relation of the
entrance to the base. On PL II it will be seen that the
remaining part of the entrance passage slopes so that
its floor would emerge at the base level at 157 inches
outside of the face of the brick core. This agrees so
nearly with the probable thickness of the casing as
required by the sloping side of the core, and with the
probable trace of the edge at about 160 on the N.W.
paving, that I have here adopted it as presumptive
truth. The size of the brickwork base, with vertical
face in the first six courses, was measured by setting
a theodolite near the middle of the south side ; the
angles subtended by long rods at the S.E. and S.W.
corners were observed, thus showing the distances ;
and the distance and direction of a plumb line hung
down to the mouth of the entrance passage was also
measured. Thus the length of the south side and
the position of the entrance were fixed ; and levels
were taken through all the pyramid, at the entrance,
N.W. paving, N. paving, and Arab canal. The brick-
work base was found to be 3692 inches (307 feet
10 inches) in length; adding 2 x 157 we find
4006 inches for the original size of the finished
pyramid base: and hence a height of 2284 inches.
It seems very strange that it should not have been
10 feet longer, and so reach 200 cubits. If there were
a flap door of stone, as at Gizeh and Dahshur
(" Pyramids of Gizeh," p. 168), the casing may easily
have been a few inches larger, and so outside the
intersection of the passage floor and pavement. A
connection with the size of the sepulchral chamber
would thus be possible; the chamber being 267-5
long, fifteen times this is 4012-5, with an uncertainty
of not more than two or three inches. Such a con-
nection with the base would not be without analogy.
The pyramid of Khufu is ioo times the outer length
of his sarcophagus, and that of Khafra 100 times the
inner length of his sarcophagus ; so the pyramid of
Amenemhat III may have been fifteen times the
length of his chamber.
19. A very curious step in the construction was
discovered by accident while cutting the tunnel in
the brickwork from the N. face. At a distance of
552 inches from the face of the brick core, or about IS
)
13
The Nile mud, brought in by the stream which has
always run through this valley, is deposited within a
quarter of a mile of the pyramid ; thus any amount
could be obtained close to hand, for making the mud
bricks of which the pyramid is composed. The
relation of the pyramid to the labyrinth on the south
side of it is shown in the plan, PI. XXV of last year's
volume, " Hawara, Biahmu, and Arsinoe."
The material of the bulk of the pyramid was mud
brick, laid in beds of clean yellow sand. This was
covered with a casing of the usual fine limestone,
weathering with a brown coat outside. Thus the
original appearance was exactly like that of the other
pyramids of the Memphite district. The fragments
of this casing I have found around the pyramid; and
one piece shows an angle of 480 45' + 3'. It can
hardly be doubted that this was constructed therefore
as a rise of 8 on a base of 7, as that requires the angle
48° 48' 51", and would be laid out by a cubit and
handbreadth vertically for each cubit horizontally.
Two other pieces however give 490 51' and 52° 25', so
that the angle is not well fixed.
18. The question of the size of the pyramid is not
easily settled. The whole of the casing has been
removed apparently, as not a single piece was found
in position all along the middles of the sides, though
that is the most favourable place for its preservation.
Not only is the casing all removed, but the pavement
also, excepting at the N.W. corner, and in the middle
of the north side. At the latter place (see PL VI, top
corner) it is covered with concreted stone chips so
firmly that it is impossible now to cut them away
without disfiguring any traces of the place of the
casing which might have remained. At the N.W.
corner I very carefully cleaned and brushed the
paving which remains, and searched for any traces of
the casing. At 140 inches from the brick core there
was some mortar, showing the casing to have covered
that; and at about 160 there were general signs of a
weathering having taken place beyond that point,
which suggested that the casing extended up to there.
This distance it will be seen (PI. VI) agrees very well
with the position of the slope of the core brickwork ;
and it is certain that 30 inches less, or as much more,
would have been an improbable thickness of casing.
This position requiring 65 inches thickness from the
sloping core, while it is not likely to have been either
as thin as 35 or as thick as 95.
The matter may be more closely settled if we can
see any theoretical reason for assigning a particular
thickness of casing. The entrance passage is about
midway between the middle and the S.W. corner of
the south face (see PI. II) ; if the axis of it were
exactly so the casing foot would need to be only
7J inches, in place of 160 outside of the brick core;
or if the west side of the passage were taken the
casing would still be but 115 inches below, which
would be impossibly thin on the sloping core. But
another connection to examine is the relation of the
entrance to the base. On PL II it will be seen that the
remaining part of the entrance passage slopes so that
its floor would emerge at the base level at 157 inches
outside of the face of the brick core. This agrees so
nearly with the probable thickness of the casing as
required by the sloping side of the core, and with the
probable trace of the edge at about 160 on the N.W.
paving, that I have here adopted it as presumptive
truth. The size of the brickwork base, with vertical
face in the first six courses, was measured by setting
a theodolite near the middle of the south side ; the
angles subtended by long rods at the S.E. and S.W.
corners were observed, thus showing the distances ;
and the distance and direction of a plumb line hung
down to the mouth of the entrance passage was also
measured. Thus the length of the south side and
the position of the entrance were fixed ; and levels
were taken through all the pyramid, at the entrance,
N.W. paving, N. paving, and Arab canal. The brick-
work base was found to be 3692 inches (307 feet
10 inches) in length; adding 2 x 157 we find
4006 inches for the original size of the finished
pyramid base: and hence a height of 2284 inches.
It seems very strange that it should not have been
10 feet longer, and so reach 200 cubits. If there were
a flap door of stone, as at Gizeh and Dahshur
(" Pyramids of Gizeh," p. 168), the casing may easily
have been a few inches larger, and so outside the
intersection of the passage floor and pavement. A
connection with the size of the sepulchral chamber
would thus be possible; the chamber being 267-5
long, fifteen times this is 4012-5, with an uncertainty
of not more than two or three inches. Such a con-
nection with the base would not be without analogy.
The pyramid of Khufu is ioo times the outer length
of his sarcophagus, and that of Khafra 100 times the
inner length of his sarcophagus ; so the pyramid of
Amenemhat III may have been fifteen times the
length of his chamber.
19. A very curious step in the construction was
discovered by accident while cutting the tunnel in
the brickwork from the N. face. At a distance of
552 inches from the face of the brick core, or about IS
)