Ten years' digging in Egypt, 1881-1891

by W. M. Flinders Petrie

81. Pyramid of Illahun.

CHAPTER VIII.
ILLAHUN.
1889-90.

Having finished opening the pyramid of Hawara, the next attraction was that of Illahun, a few miles to the east of it, in the Nile valley, at the entrance to the Fayum. This pyramid differs from all others in that the lower part is a natural rock cut into shape; upon that a mass of mud-brick rises, like that of Hawara, and around the base lie the fragments of the fine limestone casing which originally covered it. As almost all the pyramids had their chambers built in a sort of well in the rock base, I tried this pyramid on such an hypothesis, and therefore cleared the edge of its rocky portion all round as far as possible, to search for the cut into it, expected to lead to the excavation for the chamber. At the south-east corner this was difficult, as the rock was there deficient, and the core had been made up by layers of chips. Still, for months we went on clearing the sides and searching. Much other work was going on meanwhile, and by different sources I had found that the pyramid belonged to Usertesen II, as we shall notice presently. Amongst other work, I searched along a ledge in the rock at the base, where the pavement had originally been placed. While doing this we found a well, which I did not clear, as I was near the end of my season for work; but, on Mr. Fraser coming to secure the place during my absence, I commended this well to his notice as a possible entrance. He cleared it out, and at forty feet deep found a passage leading up into the pyramid. Then it was evident that no other external sign on the pyramid itself was possible, for the passages and chambers were wholly cut in the rock, and the pyramid merely stood on the surface, without any connection with the sepulchre beneath it.

There were two well-entrances to the pyramid, close together. One beyond the pavement was so carefully covered with rubbish that I could not have found it unless I had made a great clearance; by this the sarcophagus and large blocks of masonry were taken in. The smaller well was evidently for the workmen to gain access to the lower side of the blocks that were in course of being taken in: it was hidden by the pavement, was found anciently, and served for spoilers to enter by, and lastly was found again in my digging. Had it not been for this smaller well, I believe the pyramid would have been still inviolate.

The passage in the inside is rough hewn in the soft rock, and was smeared over with a coat of thin plaster originally, but without a trace of ornament or inscription. It is wide, and high enough to walk upright freely. At the end it opened into a chamber lined with blocks of limestone, of which a large part has been removed, probably by the Ramesside masons, when they plundered the pyramid and its temples for stone. At the west end of this chamber, which runs east and west, is the door to a red granite chamber, containing the sarcophagus. This second chamber is roofed exactly like that of Menkaura’s pyramid at Gizeh, with slanting blocks cut out in a curve below. The sarcophagus is one of the finest products of mechanical skill that is known from ancient times. It is of red granite, of a form not before met with, having a wide rectangular brim. The surfaces are all ground flat, but not polished; truth, and not effect, was sought for. And its errors of work in flatness and regularity are not more than the thickness of a visiting card. Its accuracy of proportion is also fine, as each dimension is a whole number of palms, with a fluctuation of only one part in a thousand. In front of the sarcophagus stood the alabaster table of offerings, for the ka of Usertesen II, now in the Gizeh Museum. Strange to say, there is not a trace of a coffin, or a lid to the sarcophagus; and, indeed, as this chamber is not under the middle of the pyramid, it may be questioned whether the real interment is not yet to be reached by some other passage.

From the north wall of this chamber a strange passage is cut in the rock, first northwards, then west, then south, then east, and lastly northwards again, opening into the limestone chamber; in fact, it passes around the granite chamber. It was not a workman’s passage intended to be closed up again, as the doorway of it has a bevelled edge and is curved at the top. It rather looks as if intended to prove to any spoilers that there was no other concealed passage leading out from the granite chamber, and thus to check their destructive searchings. If so, we may be tolerably certain that there is some other chamber containing the real interment.

The chambers in the pyramid are to the east of the centre; and adjoining the east face of the pyramid externally there stood a shrine, on the walls of which were figured the tables and lists of offerings for the ka of Usertesen II. The sculptures were of beautiful work, and brilliantly coloured. What process was used for fixing these coats of colour we do not know; but still, from over four thousand years, after being broken and thrown into heaps, these colours are firmly fixed on the stone, and soaking and washing make no change in them. Only one large piece was found, now in the Gizeh Museum, but hundreds of portions of hieroglyphs were recovered among the chips. Who the destroyers were we can guess by an inscription of Ramessu II, rudely painted on a block of the stone. Among the ruins some chips of a black-granite seated statue of Usertesen II, were found, showing that the shrine was furnished like the earlier temples of the fourth dynasty.