BIA

JANVIER 2015
northern half of the enclosure remained free of
buildings.
Traces of a gypsum floor were found,
indicating that it was used as a courtyard. “The
purpose of the enclosure and the structures in
its interior remains unclear,” ARNOLD said,
adding that it was not a chapel or a palace or
a regular temple. There are three theories
about its original use, as it was built during the
life of the king and used during his lifetime
and not after his death, like the Valley Temple
of his Pyramid Complex.
Due to the age of the root remains of the
trees, ARNOLD said that the building could have
been used for just five years. “It was a
temporary structure,” he concluded.
The first theory, the best one, says that the
structure could have been a temple where
special festivals or ceremonies for a living king
were held and not for eternity like in the Valley
Temple. “It could have been a place to
celebrate the renewal of the king, for example,”
ARNOLD said.
The second theory says that the complex is
a direct predecessor of the limestone Valley
Temple built later in its vicinity, though its
ground plan does not share any features with
the temple, such as the wing of entrance
rooms in the south and the courtyard in the
north.
The third theory is that the building was a
temple for the cult of the king with a garden,
but missing the features of a regular temple as
it was constructed entirely out of brick. No
chapel has been found or any kinds of stelae,
statues or false doors.
It cannot be ruled out that the king was
present in the building as a living person,
rather than as a statue. In this sense the
structure could have been related in purpose
and meaning to the funerary enclosures of the
First and Second Dynasty at Abydos or the
sacred enclosures familiar from depictions of
burial rituals.
“The brick building can be dated to the
middle of the reign of king Senefru,” ARNOLD
told the Weekly, adding that it could have been
erected at the time that work started on the
Bent Pyramid in the eighth year of Senefru’s
reign. The building could thus have been used
until the Valley Temple was erected in the 15 th
year of Senefru’s reign.
The construction of the Valley Temple
respected the location of the brick building,
and the earlier structures do not seem to have
been used after the temple was completed.
Most of the brick walls are covered with the
building debris of the temple. The thick
enclosure wall was later entirely removed and
replaced by a new, much thinner wall. The new
enclosure wall did encompass most of the
space formally occupied by the brick enclosure,
however.
Visual photo illustrating the garden with palm trees
The garden was also extended to the north
along the slope of a low hill. Two additional
rows of plants were added. In several cases
the roots of bushes have been preserved in
this part of the garden. How much of the
original garden remained in use is unclear. In
some areas, plants were added later,
sometimes replacing earlier ones.
“It is a very important discovery that could
change ideas of the function of the Pyramid
Complex, especially the Valley Temple,” ARNOLD
told the Weekly. While the specific function and
meaning of the structure remains unclear, he
said the building adds a new facet to our
knowledge and understanding of the origins of
pyramid temples at the beginning of the Old
Kingdom and the purposes behind their
construction.
“Though possibly related to other building
types of the period, the structure in its design,
and especially in its extensive integration of
plants, is something new and so far unique,”
ARNOLD said. “Buildings of a similar kind may
indeed have existed in the vicinity of the valley
temples of other pyramid complexes, but no
one has yet unearthed one.” (Nevine El-Aref,
BIA LI — Janvier/Juin 2015 26