Pyramid of Sekhemkhet

There are a number of poorly preserved pyramids in Saqqara, many of them looking like no more than piles of sand.

View from Unas, to the crumbled pyramid of Sekhemkhet
View from Unas, to the crumbled pyramid of Sekhemkhet

Just southwest of Djoser lies the rounded mound of Sekhemkhet’s pyramid, a complete complex meant to have all the element of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, but apparently abandoned before it was finished (or so thoroughly destroyed that it is unrecognizable). it is often called “The Buried Pyramid”

The limestone casing was ever added, and the pyramid was never raised far above the retaining wall. There is a burial chamber inside, but it, too, was left unfinished even though it contained an alabaster sarcophagus. Many of the tombs we saw had sarcophaguses that were much too large to fit inside the corridors leading to the chamber, which makes it clear that they were put in place before the rooms were finished — perhaps lowered in from above?

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