The pyramid of Amenemhat I is an Egyptian burial structure built at

Lisht Lisht or el-Lisht ( ar, اللشت, translit=Al-Lišt) is an Egyptian village located south of Cairo. It is the site of Middle Kingdom royal and elite burials, including two pyramids built by Amenemhat I and Senusret I. The two main pyramids were ...

by the founder of the

Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt The Twelfth Dynasty of ancient Egypt (Dynasty XII) is considered to be the apex of the Middle Kingdom by Egyptologists. It often is combined with the Eleventh, Thirteenth, and Fourteenth dynasties under the group title, Middle Kingdom. Some s ...

Amenemhat I :''See Amenemhat, for other individuals with this name.'' Amenemhat I ( Ancient Egyptian: ''Ỉmn-m-hꜣt'' meaning 'Amun is at the forefront'), also known as Amenemhet I, was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the first king of the Twelfth Dynast ...

. This structure returned to the approximate size and form of

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

pyramids.Lehner, M. (1997b). The Complete Pyramids. London:Thames and Hudson ltd. It also established a new tradition though of giving each component structure in the pyramid complex its own unique name. The structures together were known as "The places of the appearances of Amenemhat".

Construction

Archaeological evidence suggests that Amenemhat started to build his pyramid at Thebes but for unknown reasons switched his capital and the location of his pyramid to Lisht (1991–1778 BC). The pyramid upon its completion rose to a height of 55 m, with a base length of 83 m and a slope of 54 degrees. The core of the pyramid was made with small rough blocks of local

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

with a loose fill of sand debris and

mud brick A mudbrick or mud-brick is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of loam, mud, sand and water mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE, though since 4000 BCE, bricks have also been fi ...

. Some of the limestone was stripped from other monuments - blocks of stone from the pyramids 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 ...

Khafre Khafre (also read as Khafra and gr, Χεφρήν Khephren or Chephren) was an ancient Egyptian King (pharaoh) of the 4th Dynasty during the Old Kingdom. He was the son of Khufu and the successor of Djedefre. According to the ancient historia ...

Unas Unas or Wenis, also spelled Unis ( egy, wnjs, hellenized form Oenas or Onnos), was a pharaoh, the ninth and last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom. Unas reigned for 15 to 30 years in the mid-24th century BC (circa 23 ...

and

Pepi II Pepi II Neferkare (2284 BC – after 2247 BC, probably either 2216 or 2184 BC) was a pharaoh of the Sixth Dynasty in Egypt's Old Kingdom who reigned from 2278 BC. His second name, Neferkare (''Nefer-ka-Re''), means "Beautiful is ...

(or possibly

Pepi I Pepi I Meryre (also Pepy I) was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, third king of the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for over 40 years at the turn of the 24th and 23rd centuries BC, toward the end of the Old Kingdom period. He was the son of ...

) have been found in the pyramid. Inside the pyramid a sloped shaft blocked with granite plugs upon burial ran from the ground level entrance chapel to a vertical shaft that descended directly to the burial chamber. The overall construction of the pyramid was poor and little of it remains today. Around the pyramid were found tombs of high officials serving the king. These include the tombs of the high steward

Nakht Nakht was an ancient Egyptian official who held the position of a scribe and astronomer of Amun, probably during the reign of Thutmose IV of the Eighteenth Dynasty. He was buried in the Theban Necropolis in tomb TT52. See also * List of ancien ...

, the treasurer

Rehuerdjersen Rehuerdjersen was an ancient Egyptian treasurer who held this office under the 12th Dynasty pharaoh Amenemhat I. Rehuerdjersen is mainly known from his tomb at el-Lisht (tomb no. 384), close to the pyramid of Amenemhat I. His mastaba was heav ...

and the vizier

Intefiqer The ancient Egyptian noble Intefiqer ''(ỉnỉ-ỉt.f ỉqr)'' was ''overseer of the city'' and Vizier under Amenemhet I and Senusret I during the early 12th Dynasty (1991–1802 BC). He is known from several rock inscriptions in Lower Nubi ...

Excavation

The first excavation of the site was undertaken by the French

Egyptologist Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...

Gaston Maspero Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper. Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia. ...

in 1882. His work as later continued by a French archaeological expedition under the direction of J.E. Gautier and

Gustave Jéquier Gustave Jéquier (14 August 1868 – 24 March 1946) was born in and died in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He was an Egyptologist and one of the first archaeologists to excavate ancient Persian cities in what is now Iran. He was a member of Jacques de ...

in 1894 and 1895. The investigations were continued from 1920 to 1934 by

Albert Lythgoe Albert Morton Lythgoe (March 15, 1868 – January 29, 1934) was an American archaeologist and Egyptologist. He is best known for his work for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and for the support he gave to the excavation of Tutankhamun ...

and Arthur Mace in a team from the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. By the time of these excavations the pyramid had undergone much disintegration and is now only 20 meters high with most of the surrounding complex gone. None of the expeditions successfully explored the interior of the pyramid due to the internal passageways being flooded with groundwater.

References

Sources

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External links

Pyramid of Amenemhet I at el-Lisht
{{coord, 29.5749, N, 31.2253, E, source:wikidata, display=title Amenemhat I Lisht Buildings and structures completed in the 20th century BC 20th century BC in Egypt