Amazing discovery in ancient Egyptian Pyramid of Sahure

Archaeologists have made an incredible discovery inside an Ancient Egyptian pyramid that may help to uncover how the structures were built.

Archaeologists have made an incredible discovery inside an Egyptian pyramid built some 4400 years ago, which may provide insight into how the ancient structures were built.

The Pyramid of Sahure was built as the final resting place of Sahure, a pharaoh who led Egypt during the Fifth Dynasty. It has been the subject of a restoration project since 2019, as restorers attempt to clean out its rooms and install supports to prevent it from collapsing.

But the team made an interesting discovery when they cleared away rubble from inside a partially collapsed corridor.

The Pyramid of Sahure looks unusual compared to other Ancient Egyptian pyramids. Picture: Visit Egypt.

The pyramid was once encased in limestone. Picture: Visit Egypt

The researchers, led by Egyptologist Mohamed Ismail Khaled from Würzburg University in Germany, discovered chambers that had been blocked off since at least when the corridor collapsed.

The chambers are believed to be storage rooms for the pyramid, which confirms the suspicions of British engineer John Shae Perring, who first excavated the magnificent site nearly 200 years ago.

When Perring and his team first excavated the Pyramid of Sahure in 1836, the corridors were already collapsed. He hypothesised that they led to a series of storage rooms, but his suspicions were, until now, unconfirmed.

Unfortunately, the work of Perring and his fellow early Egyptologists damaged the pyramid’s internal structure, leading to some of the conservation problems archaeologists see today.

Researchers from the University of Würzburg say the previously undiscovered chambers shed light on the design of ancient Egyptian pyramids.

They used cutting-edge light imaging technology to create an accurate floor plan of the pyramid’s antechamber, which hopefully will help to conserve the storage rooms and make them accessible in the future.

A bust of Pharaoh Sahure. Picture: Rogers Fund.

One of the previously undiscovered storage rooms. Picture: Mohamed Khaled / Uni Würzburg

The 47-metre tall Pyramid of Sahure is unusual compared to other ancient Egyptian burial sites.

It is located in the necropolis of Abusir in northern Egypt, 25 kilometres southwest of Cairo, which was the primary burial site of Fifth Dynasty pharaohs. The complex contains 14 ancient Egyptian pyramids, including three major royal pyramids, a scattering of smaller ones and some unfinished structures.

But unlike the iconic Pyramids of Giza, the Pyramid of Sahure is more rough and rugged in appearance. It looks more like a mound of irregularly shaped bricks, which create a vague pyramid shape and are surrounded by a complex of ruins and pillars.

The pyramid’s unusual appearance is, in part, due to its age. In its heyday, it would have been encased in a shell of glorious, smooth-sided limestone.