Zoser Step Pyramid

Ancient Egyptian Pyramids - Egyptian Pyramids - The Step Pyramids Of Zoser

Egyptian Pyramids

 Now we will speak about more information and facts  about  ancient Egyptian Pyramids generally , Zoser step pyramids specially .

Our articles consist of :

• The Underground Chambers
• The "Double burials"
• The Chemical Knowledge

The Underground Chambers

The Underground Chambers (Egyptian Pyramids)

What is underneath of the Zoser's pyramid ?
At the bottom of the shaft , there are the burial chambers and networks of passages and small chambers , used for storing the funerary equipment and for the burials of Zoser and five members of his royal family .

The burial chambers of the Step Pyramid are burial champers beyond any doubt . They contain inscriptions , offering rooms , and ,post of the other funerary features found in both earlier and later tombs .
Some of these underground chambers are lined with beautiful blue faience tiles .

Did they know about faience tiles that long ago ?
Yes . however there are those who want to credit this invention to others in Europe . They claim , without any proof , that the walls were lined with these tiles much after than Zoser's time .

What is wrong with their claim ?

Firstly their claim is groundless . Secondly the so-called " southern Tomb " , Just 700 from the Step Pyramid , and which was built during Zoser's reign , is lined with the very same tiles . The " Southern Tomb " was intact until it was discovered by Lauer and Firth , in 1924-26 .

The "Double Burials "

"Southern Tomb " 

Double Burials 

"Southern Tomb "

What is that ?
At the southern of the Zoser's Complex is a great mastaba , beneath which is a set of chambers. They resemble the burial chambers beneath the step Pyramid . The walls of some of the rooms at the Southern Tomb are decorated with blue faience tiles . These unmolested empty rooms are too small to hold the bodies of any of Zoser's family .

What are these empty rooms for ?
Some have guessed that the may have been intended to hold Zoser's canopic jars.

But the canopic jars are always left next to the sarcophagus.

You are right . We are really dealing with and ancient Egyptian custom which was
called , for lack of better term , "Double Burial "


What is a "Double Burial " ?
It appear that the early dynastic kings have had two "tombs " - one in the north at Saqqara , and another in the south at Abydos . What us even odder , is that in many of burial has been found in either one !

Did Zoser have another tomb at Abydos ?
Actually , he has another tomb (empty ) at Khallaf , south of Abydos .

I don't understand the Logic !!
Some scholars have explained this " Double burial " custom as a political move , designed to maintain unity between the north and south , by having the King buried in both . Other scholars , however, believe that the division into north and south was spiritually symbolic and not political . These separate 'tombs ' may have been intended to represent the solar principle in the north and the lunar principle in the south .

The Chemical Knowledge

The Chemical Knowledge ( Ancient Egypt )

Did they find treasures underneath this Pyramid ?
Yes , Some rooms underneath the Zoser Pyramid yielded about 40,000 items of stone jars and vessels of every imaginable size , shape and material , most of which were damage due to sitting of the earth . Many of these manufactured vessels were produces by earlier dynasties . The items are made of slate , metamorphic schist ( stone contain layers of flaky minerals ) diorite ,and basalt . The diorite used , a granite rock , is among the hardest knows . Modern sculptors don't attempt to crave these varieties of stone .

Numerous hard stone vessels were found with long ,narrow necks , and wide rounded bellies . Their interiors and exteriors correspond perfectly , these smooth and glossy vessels show no traces of tool mark s .

Howe were all these small and large items made from such hard stones ? And moreover , how could such hard stones be worked with no trace of tools marks ?
maybe they didn't use tools at all . Their advanced knowledge in alchemy ( the word chemistry was derives from it only 250 years a go ) enables them to do wonders in chemical and metallurgical applications . Many of these items could have been manufactured from mineral ores and then molded , rather than sculpted or engraved .

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