A team of Egyptian archeologists have discovered the interior of a 3,800-year-old pyramid near King Sneferu's famous Bent Pyramid. Egyptologists now believe that the newly discovered pyramid was one of the first attempts in building a smooth sided pyramid by the ancient Egyptians.
Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities told the press, as reported by the BBC, that the newly discovered pyramid bears the name of Pharaoh Ameny Qemau, a 13th dynasty Egyptian ruler (1793 - 1791 BCE) Many are intrigued with the massive discovery as this was the second pyramid that bears the name of the same ruler.
Archeologists believes that the pyramids in the Dahshur area were the first attempts to build a smooth faced pyramids. Before this, ancient Egyptian engineers have managed to build step pyramids such as the famous Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara. The newly discovered pyramid is not as old as the other Dahshur pyramids, especially the Red pyramid, which is considered the first successful smooth-face pyramid in ancient Egyptian history.
Adel Okasha, director general of the Dahshur necropolis site said that discovery was in fact, the interior of a pyramid, but more importantly were a number of slabs with hieroglyphics which are yet to be deciphered. Live Science helped shed light on the hieroglyphs by showing photos of the said alabaster stone to James Allen of Brown University and Aidan Dodson of the University of Bristol. Both hieroglyph experts have agreed that engraved in the tablet was the name of Pharaoh Ameny. However, this pointed out another mystery, which is why two pyramids bear the name of the said pharaoh.
Okasha added that the excavation on the site is not yet over and they plan to continue on, in hopes of uncovered more information about the history of this newly discovered pyramid. Egypt has still a lot of secret treasures waiting silently under the sand for its discovery.
