Page 70 - اثار مصر الفرعونية2

The pyramid is entered from the north face, 18.5m above
the ground, an innovation which future pyramid-builders would
adopt as standard. Today a staircase leads up the mound of
debris, and a low passage slopes from the entrance down to the
bedrock beneath the base of the structure. Then a short horizontal
passage with a small antechamber and a niche on the right-hand
side, leads to a vertical shaft and the burial chamber at the
original ground level. The corbelled roof of the burial chamber
projects above the bedrock in the masonry of the pyramid and
looking up you can see the high corbelled walls, where there are
still traces of an ancient wooden beam, perhaps intended to be
used ot facilitate lifting the sarcophagus. No trace of a
sarcophagus or a king's remains were found in the burial
chamber, suggesting that there was never a burial, but Petrie
reported finding remains of a plain wooden coffin in the entry
corridor which he considered to possibly date do the Old

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