Page 68 - آثار مصر الفرعونية الجزء الأول

course of masonry and is situated very precisely on the pyramid's
east-west axis. It is 18 feet, 10 inches by 17 feet, 2 inches by 15
feet high. Like elsewhere in this pyramid, the walls are bare and
uninscribed. It includes a gabled ceiling and there is a niche built
about four and a half meters up in its east wall with a ceiling built
as a corbel vault. Though its purpose is not entirely clear, it is
very possible that a statue of the king or his ka (soul) might have
stood in it.

Note that in Mark Lehner's opinion, the Queen's Chamber
would have been roofed over and therefore totally closed off, a
characteristic of a serdab. A serdab was a room for the king's ka
(the king's spiritual double) statue, which are found in a number
of other pyramid structures.

The Queen's Chamber Shafts

Certainly unclear in significance, but today one of the
primary focuses of continuing investigation in the Pyramid's
internal structure, are the two narrow shafts, averaging about
twenty by twenty centimeters, that begin in the north and south
walls of the chamber and climb steeply upwards. These shafts are
not entirely straight, as some might believe. For example the
north shaft in the Queen's Chamber bends after about seventeen
meters. Some experts think that these are ventilation shafts, while
others would see an astronomical function. The north shaft is
aligned with the circumpolar stars Minoris, Ursa and Beta, while

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