Site of two unfinished PVR. v.Mins, a number of.i.S'i'.AB tombs of the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 Bc) and a cemetery of the New Kingdom (1550-1069 bc), situated on the west bank of the Nile, between Gi/. and abusir. The earlier of the two pyramids is known as the Taiyer Pyramid' or ‘el-Medowwara', and was possibly constructed for the.5rd-Dynast' ruler Khaba (2640-26.57 itt;). The 84-metre-square superstructure is almost identical to that of the unfinished step pyramid of Sekhemkhet (2648-2640 bc) at s. UitiVRA, both consisting of slanting layers of masonry, and both being originally planned as. six - or seven-stepped pyramids. I'he subterranean section was entered via a vertical burial shaft descending from the north face of the pyramid. At the ba. se of the shaft were three corridors, one leading southwards to the burial chamber (beneath the centre of the pyramid) and two others leading to east and west, each with sixteen side-chambers that were presumably intended for the deposition of funerary goods. The pyramid was excavated first b> .lexandre Barsanti and later by George rei. s.sI'.r, who also cleared some of the associated M ASTABA tombs. It was Reisner who located fragments bearing the name of Khaba, as well as a potterv fragment with the name of arikr, leading him to suggest that the monument should be dated to the 2nd Dynast}. However, the sub-sequent excavation of the pyramid of Sekhemkhet indicated that a 3rd-D}nasty date was the most likely.
'The second pyramid at Zawiyet el-Aryan probably dates to the 4th Dynasty (2613—2494 liC) and was also excavated by Barsanti. Its main feature is a long sloping trench, at the bottom of which an unusual oval granite sarcophagus was discovered. P'ragments of a similar type of sarcophagus were found by Flinders riri'Rit: in the pyramid complex of Djedefra (2566-2558 bc) at abi roa. sii, leading to the suggestion that the Zawiyet el-.“Vryan monument was constructed by the .same rider, although more recently it has been suggested that it may have belonged to an unknown ruler between the reigns of Djedefra and Khafra.
B. PoRi'KR andR. L, B. Mo. s.s, Topographical bibliography Bi/i (Oxford, 1974), 312-14.
D. Dlni i wi, Zawiyet el-Aryan: the cemeteries adjacent to the Layer Pyramid (Boston, 1978).
World History
