BIA

JANVIER 2015
in the core of the enclosure wall was left free
of plants.
“A few remains of plant roots are clearly
visible,” ARNOLD said, adding that the remains
revealed that the whole garden was once
planted with palm trees, sycamores and cypress
trees.
“This is the first time we have found a
cypress tree in Egypt,” ARNOLD said, adding that
it could have been imported from Syria. He
said that studies have suggested that all the
trees were planted as adult plants, meaning
that they were planted somewhere else and
later transported to Dahshûr at one or two
years old.
“It seems at first that the trees used to
grow in the garden, as we can see the roots
going into the sand. But regretfully this did not
last long,” he said, saying that the growing
process had lasted for just a few years.
The ancient Egyptians must have brought
water in pots to irrigate the plants in pits every
day or every week as the water of the Nile
was not extended to Dahshûr. “There could
have been more rain at that time, but never
enough to irrigate a whole garden,” ARNOLD
said. The site would have been filled with
workers busy building the Bent Pyramid, so it
would have been very possible to bring extra
water, he added.
Very little of the building is preserved, only
the traces of the foundations. It was
constructed directly on the natural surface of
the desert, in the north on stone and in the
south on a compact layer of sand. The building
turns out to have been surrounded by a
massive, rectangular five-metre-thick enclosure
wall running 80.5 m from north to south and
55.8 m from east to west.
“Walls of these dimensions were only made
for a king, and they are known from the socalled
funerary enclosures of the Early Dynastic
Period at Abydos, as well as from the city
temples of the Old Kingdom, such as at
Bubastis,” ARNOLD said. He said that the mission
has not yet unearthed any entrance for the
building, but that early studies suggest the
existence of at least two gates, one near the
south end of the east side and the second in
the centre of the south side.
The southern part of the building consists
of three entrance rooms, and its northern part
has a courtyard. The main entrance lies at the
southern end of the east side and was set into
the back of a shallow niche. Behind the door,
the direction of the entrance was bent twice,
leading through a passage into a columned
hall. Along the foot of the walls of the rooms
deep pits were found.
“They possibly served as emplacements for
offering vessels,” ARNOLD suggested, adding that
a third squared room with a depression in its
middle was located to the west side of the hall
and it could have served as a space for
washing or ritual purification.
Root remains
ARNOLD explained that the field excavations
revealed that the ground level of the garden
was not entirely horizontal as its southern part
was more than one metre higher than the
northern side. On this elevated ground, ARNOLD
said, a brick building was constructed, part of
which was discovered by Fakhrî.
“During its period of use the building was
refurbished and reformed,” ARNOLD said, adding
that a wing of rooms was added to the west,
giving the building a square ground plan. The
extension occupied an area formerly occupied
by part of the garden, the plants now being
covered by the floor of the building. In a third
stage, the new wing was subdivided into at
least two spaces and an entrance added at
the south end of the west side.
Additions were also made in the area
surrounding the building, he said. A building
was constructed adjacent to the enclosure wall,
and another smaller structure was built into the
southwest corner of the enclosure, but the
BIA LI — Janvier/Juin 2015 25