The Khentkawes Town (KKT) - Ancient Egypt Research Associates

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Valley Approach
Our discovery of another ramp in front of the Khentkawes
causeway, plus the broader Ramp at the GIII.VT-KKT
interface, draws our attention to the overall access into the
whole complex, and into the Giza Necropolis as a whole. If
we project the lines of both ramps downslope, they point
to the southeast part of the KKT, which is at the bottom
of the general bedrock dip into the central wadi between
the Moqattam and Maadi formation outcrops at Giza
(fig. 42). It is just this part of the settlement, the southeast
corner of the KKT, which was unobtainable already in 1932
because of the proximity of the modern cemetery. Hence
the approach from the southeast is missing from Hassan’s
map. In our next season we hope to gain a little more of
this low corner.
We will also begin to excavate into the buried building
in KKT-E (fig. 43). Is it in fact a discrete building, or just
an enclosure around a broad open reception area In
Hassan’s map the eastern wall of the foot of the town
(KKT-F) shows a turn to the east, about 35 m south of the
causeway threshold. The turn hints that the whole foot
of the KKT might have turned to the east and continued
in that direction (for a width of about 30 m, fig. 42). The
distance from this turn to the extension eastward of the
northern KKT enclosure wall measures 52 m, 100 ancient
Egyptian royal cubits. The two walls would contain a
rectangular space 100 cubits wide. The Valley Temple
of Menkaure (GIII.VT) is a little shy of 52 m wide, so it
would fit into the projected space below the Khentkawes
causeway. We know from what we have cleared so far that
the buried building is at least 30 m wide, north to south
(fig. 42). If it is a discrete building, it is most likely the true
valley temple of Khentkawes, possibly of a size equal to
that of Menkaure.
Figure 41. Bread mold found during clearance of sand
east of the stairway-ramp down in KKT-E. Drawing by
Edyta Klimaszewska-Drabot and Aleksandra Księżak.
Giza Occasional Papers 4 43