The pyramid of
Amenemhat III of (1842-1797 BCE) exposed of limestone casing, a irregular mound with good views. Charm is forgotten, but on the south side. Sarcophagus was looed, found next to daughter Nefer-Ptah. To the ast dwells a bone and bandate littered necroplis. Besides the site of the Labrynth, with 3000 chambers, probably trhe mortuary temple of Amenemhat III. Situation of the 146 Fayoum portraits in the cemetary (beeswax-based paint and formal embalming. As the oasis of
el-Faiyum got more important during Dynasty XII, a number of religious memorials were built there and the following pharaoh to conception his pyramid in the realm was Amenemhat III. This was not the king's first superb of burial site - he had previously made a
pyramid at Dahshur, to the north, during the gone part of his long dominate, but due to structural tries which became apparent during the expression, Amenemhat opted to get a second pyramid at
Hawara, good the site of his grandfather's repository at
el-Lahun. It was to be the gone major pyramid involved in Egypt. Pyramid of Amenemhat III The Labyrinth extending to the south across the canal
The King's second pyramid was developed with a core of mudbricks and a white limestone casing, which was withdrawn in Roman times. The pyramid was entered directly through the incase on the south side with a staircase and corridor descending into the substructure, which today is flooded by groundwater. A series of corridors and blind passages wound about the only of the pyramid, before in the end coming to the burial chamber at a full level to the west of the pyramid's centre. This was passed via a concealed entree in the cap of one of the passages and was forgot by a massive quartzite slab. Because of his live with the Dahshur pyramid, Amenemhat's architects took extra care in rewarding and preservative the burial chamber, by building a series of triangular headers which held a high gabled roof of large limestone blocks beneath another overleap of mudbricks. The chamber itself was a single part of quartzite, considering over 100 tonnes, into which was carved a trough which held the sarcophagus nd canopic chests. The sealing bar of the chamber was an enormous slab of quartzite which was ingeniously brought down into place by means of slowly releasing the sand which had supported the stone slab into side galleries. The King's burial chamber was sufficiently maintained to withstand the extended weight of the brickwork and stone above it, but it would seem that the complicated preventive measures taken to deter robbers was ultimately frustrated. When Petrie investigated the sarcophagus in Amenemhat's burial chamber he discovered remains of a burned inner coffin, presumably damaged by ancient grave-robbers. A second wooden coffin was found in an hall, along with a carved alabaster offering-table enduring the names of a Princess Neferu-ptah, considered to be a daughter of the King and it was assumed that the princess had been buried with her father. However, in 1956 the continues of an almost destroyed small pyramid 2 km south-east of the King's pyramid was investigated, and the tomb of Neferu-ptah was found. Her red granite sarcophagus and other objects written with her name were discovered in the burial chamber, but up to date archaeologists are still obscure about the real position of Neferu-ptah's burial.
Continues of a Roman statue on the eastside side of the pyramid Entrance corridor on the southeastern side of the pyramid Remains of crocodile rests from the mortuary temple Within the inclosure, immediately to the southwest of Amenemhat's pyramid, Petrie dug the King's mortuary temple - an big and very complicated social system, which is now so broken that it is difficult to restore a plan. This is probably the social system which classical authors concerned to as 'the Labyrinth' which so subject early travelers. This unique constructing, covering an area of 2.8 hectares, was discovered by Herodotus as having been made from a single rock and to check 3 thousand rooms linked by winding passages and courts. He may have exaggerated as other writers discorded about the number of chambers and romances. Strabo called the complex 'a palace written of as many smaller palaces as were at one time nomes', that is, forty two. Petrie described remains of 2 statues of the gods
Sobek and
Hathor in the social structure and a statue of Amenemhat III close in the irrigation canal. Unfortunately the 'Labyrinth' today is gentle more than a bed of dust, its stone quarried wide since Romn times. It extends crosswise the modern canal to the southwest of the pyramid.
The pyramid complex was involved by a perimeter wall with a causeway leading from the south-eastern niche to the valley temple, broken of which have been fully enquired. In a cemetery north of the pyramid complex, Petrie likewise found 146 mummy-portraits going steady to the Roman Period. One of these can be considered in the small museum at Kom Ushim and more Faiyum Portraits are in Cairo Museum.
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