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Pyramid of Menkaure
The pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the three main pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex, located on the Giza Plateau in the southwestern outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. It is thought to have been built to serve as the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty King Menkaure.
Menkaure's pyramid had an original height of 65.5 meters (215 ft), and was the smallest of the three major pyramids at the Giza Necropolis. It now stands at 61 m (200 ft) tall with a base of 108.5 m (356 ft). Its angle of incline is approximately 51°20′25″. It was constructed of limestone and Aswan granite. The upper portion was cased in the normal manner with Tura limestone. The construction of the outer casing of the pyramid was halted at sixteen to eighteen layers of granite following Menkaure's death, only seven of which remain today due to vandalism and erosion. Part of the granite was left in the rough.
The descending passage to lower burial chamber is in the 'large apartment' floor, probably originally hidden by floor blocks. It is theorised that originally the pyramid was planned to be smaller, with the blind alley being the originally planned entrance passage.
A boat hieroglyph was found painted on a limestone block near the pyramid, which may indicate the presence of a boat pit for a solar barque.
The pyramid's date of construction is unknown, because Menkaure's reign has not been accurately defined, but it was probably completed in the 26th century BC.[citation needed] It is a few hundred meters southwest of its larger neighbors, the pyramid of Khafre and the Great Pyramid of Khufu in the Giza necropolis.
The pyramid was likely robbed as early as the First Intermediate Period, given that authors Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs claim that "all the pyramids were robbed" by the New Kingdom, when the construction of royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings began.
In 1837, Howard Vyse and John Shae Perring discovered the basalt sarcophagus of Menkaure, described as beautiful black and rich in detail with a bold projecting cornice, which contained the bones of a young woman. It was loaded onto the ship Beatrice, but wrecked off the Spanish coast on the way to Great Britain.
A wooden anthropoid coffin inscribed with Menkaure's name and containing the remains of a mummy were found in the upper burial chamber and later transferred safely to the British Museum. The coffin was radiocarbon-dated to 1212–846 BC, from the late New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period. The male body and its shroud were carbon dated to the early Islamic Period.
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Pyramid of Menkaure
The pyramid of Menkaure is the smallest of the three main pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex, located on the Giza Plateau in the southwestern outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. It is thought to have been built to serve as the tomb of the Fourth Dynasty King Menkaure.
Menkaure's pyramid had an original height of 65.5 meters (215 ft), and was the smallest of the three major pyramids at the Giza Necropolis. It now stands at 61 m (200 ft) tall with a base of 108.5 m (356 ft). Its angle of incline is approximately 51°20′25″. It was constructed of limestone and Aswan granite. The upper portion was cased in the normal manner with Tura limestone. The construction of the outer casing of the pyramid was halted at sixteen to eighteen layers of granite following Menkaure's death, only seven of which remain today due to vandalism and erosion. Part of the granite was left in the rough.
The descending passage to lower burial chamber is in the 'large apartment' floor, probably originally hidden by floor blocks. It is theorised that originally the pyramid was planned to be smaller, with the blind alley being the originally planned entrance passage.
A boat hieroglyph was found painted on a limestone block near the pyramid, which may indicate the presence of a boat pit for a solar barque.
The pyramid's date of construction is unknown, because Menkaure's reign has not been accurately defined, but it was probably completed in the 26th century BC.[citation needed] It is a few hundred meters southwest of its larger neighbors, the pyramid of Khafre and the Great Pyramid of Khufu in the Giza necropolis.
The pyramid was likely robbed as early as the First Intermediate Period, given that authors Bob Brier and Hoyt Hobbs claim that "all the pyramids were robbed" by the New Kingdom, when the construction of royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings began.
In 1837, Howard Vyse and John Shae Perring discovered the basalt sarcophagus of Menkaure, described as beautiful black and rich in detail with a bold projecting cornice, which contained the bones of a young woman. It was loaded onto the ship Beatrice, but wrecked off the Spanish coast on the way to Great Britain.
A wooden anthropoid coffin inscribed with Menkaure's name and containing the remains of a mummy were found in the upper burial chamber and later transferred safely to the British Museum. The coffin was radiocarbon-dated to 1212–846 BC, from the late New Kingdom to the Third Intermediate Period. The male body and its shroud were carbon dated to the early Islamic Period.