Abu Rawash (also spelled ''Abu Roach'', Abu Roash; ar, ابو رواش , , , "flesh of sensual pleasures"), north of

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah'' arz, الجيزة ' ) is the second-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and fourth-largest city in Africa after Kinshasa, Lagos and Cairo. It is the capital of Giza Governorate with a total population of 9.2 ...

, is the site of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

's most northerly

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

, also known as the lost pyramid – the mostly ruined

Pyramid of Djedefre The pyramid of Djedefre consists today mostly of ruins located at Abu Rawash in Egypt. It is Egypt's northernmost pyramid and is believed to have been built by Djedefre, son and successor to king Khufu. Theories Though some Egyptologists in th ...

, the son and successor of

Khufu Khufu or Cheops was an ancient Egyptian monarch who was the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty, in the first half of the Old Kingdom period ( 26th century BC). Khufu succeeded his father Sneferu as king. He is generally accepted as having co ...

. Originally, it was thought that this pyramid had never been completed, but the current archaeological consensus is that not only was it completed, but that it was built about the same size as the

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 Dynast ...

– the third largest of the

Giza pyramids The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Men ...

. It is the location of the northernmost pyramid in Egypt (known as Lepsius Number One), the pyramid of Djedefre (also known as Radjedef) and around fifty

mastaba A mastaba (, or ), also mastabah, mastabat or pr- djt (meaning "house of stability", " house of eternity" or "eternal house" in Ancient Egyptian), is a type of ancient Egyptian tomb in the form of a flat-roofed, rectangular structure with inwar ...

s (located one and a half kilometres from Djedefre’s pyramid).

Location

Its location adjacent to a major crossroads made it an easy source of stone.

Quarrying A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...

, which began in Roman times, has left little apart from a few courses of stone superimposed upon the natural hillock that formed part of the pyramid's core.

Geology of Abu Rawash

The sedimentary succession in Abu Rawash area ranges in age from Late Cretaceous to Quaternary but is punctuated by several unconformity surfaces.

Turonian The Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous Epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous Series. It spans the time between 93.9 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.8 ± 1 Ma (million years ago). The Turonian is preceded b ...

to Coniacian representing the sedimentary succession of Abu Rawash

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

that differentiated into six informal units (members) from younger to older as follows: *Basal clastic member *

Rudist Rudists are a group of extinct box-, tube- or ring-shaped marine heterodont bivalves belonging to the order Hippuritida that arose during the Late Jurassic and became so diverse during the Cretaceous that they were major reef-building organisms ...

-bearing limestone-marl member *Limestone member *Actaeonella-bearing limestone-marl member *Flint-bearing chalky limestone member *Plicatula-bearing marl-limestone member.

Sedimentary depositional environment In geology, depositional environment or sedimentary environment describes the combination of physical, chemical, and biological processes associated with the deposition of a particular type of sediment and, therefore, the rock types that will be ...

of Abu Rawash Formation are characterized by variable conditions and settings ranging from lower mixed to upper

intertidal The intertidal zone, also known as the foreshore, is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide (in other words, the area within the tidal range). This area can include several types of habitats with various species ...

flat and

subtidal The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminated ...

channel for the clastic facies and calm to agitated open marine inner to middle platform for the carbonate

facies In geology, a facies ( , ; same pronunciation and spelling in the plural) is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or condition of formatio ...

. Vertical sequence or facies hierarchy display that the facies sequence of the basal clastic member indicates a progradational peritidal sequence. While those of the rudist-bearing member and limestone member represent a cyclic progradation of high energetic/storm facies above an open marine low energetic fore shoal subtidal facies. The facies sequence of the Acteonella-bearing member reflects two facies associations comprising open marine subtidal assemblage and shoal or bank facies. The latter facies represents the bank that the robust thick shelled Durania arnaudi with the coralline sponge heads accreted local mounds in restricted areas El-Hassana dome. The vertical facies hierarchy of the flint-bearing chalky limestone member suggests a renewed shoaling of the depositional accommodation, shifting to inner-platform setting and a progradation of mobile bioclastic

shoals In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It o ...

or banks. The stacking of the sedimentary facies in the Plicatula-bearing member indicates an accumulation in an open shallow sea (inner platform) with intermittent supply of fine terrigenous clastics and clays. (Hanan.S.M. Badawy, Geology Dept., Faculty of Science, Beni Suef,

)

Mastabas

The first burials in the area date to the First Dynasty. There is a large Thinite necropolis at the site and a number of objects bearing the names of Hor-Aha and

Den Den may refer to: * Den (room), a small room in a house * Maternity den, a lair where an animal gives birth Media and entertainment * ''Den'' (album), 2012, by Kreidler * Den (''Battle Angel Alita''), a character in the ''Battle Angel Alita' ...

were found in the area. Unlike the fourth dynasty mastabas of Giza which sit very close to the pyramids and seem to have been built to a plan in advance, the fourth dynasty necropolis at Abu Rawash (cemetery F) lies some distance from Djedefre’s pyramid and the mastabas seem to have been built to order and laid out in a more haphazard manner. Most of the mastabas are composed of external walls made up of large blocks layered around a bedrock core with the upper sections filled in with loose masonry. On the east side there is a cult niche to the north and a L-shaped chapel to the south. Some of the southern chapels have brick annexes to extend them. Many of the tombs are anonymous but some bear the names of their owners and some artifacts have been recovered also bearing these names; for example an alabaster offering table dedicated to Hornit.

References

External links

Newsweek's Interactive Graphic on Djedefre's pyramid with Interactive Timeline of the major pyramids of ancient EgyptInformation with interactive map, videos & photos of Abu Roash
a
Talking Pyramids

Ministry of Environment Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency - Natural Protectorates Description
{{Authority control

Location

Geology of Abu Rawash

Mastabas

See also

References

External links