Pyramid:

  Base: 52.5m

  Height: 37.35m

  Slope: 55°

A complex substructure of a pyramid was found to the southwest of Khendjer's funerary monument, between the pyramids of Saqqara South and those of Dashur.

The funerary monument is surrounded by a wavy enclosure wall, but there is no trace of a mortuary temple, satellite and queens' pyramids or a valley temple.

Two pyramidions were found near the entrance to the monument's substructure. Both were made in black granite, one polished smooth and the other only roughly finished and truncated. As there are two pyramidions, it is very unlikely that both were intended to top the actual pyramid once it was finished. The question therefor remains as to the purpose of the two pyramidions. Was one intended for the pyramid and the other one for a satellite or a queen's pyramid that were never started? Or could they have been intended as symbolic pyramids, when the builders realised that there would be no time to build a complete pyramid? In the latter case, one of the pyramidions might have symbolised the actual pyramid, and the other one a satellite or a queen's pyramid.

What was finished and remains of the pyramid itself shows a monument that measured 78.75m to the side. Had this monument been completed, it would have been a lot bigger than Khendjer's monument.

The most interesting part of this monument, however, is the part that appears to have been completed: its substructure.

The substructure is quite complex and shows some resemblance to that of the Southern pyramid at Mazghuna. The entrance is located in what would have been near-centre of the eastern face of the pyramid. From there, a stairway leads down to the first of three large portculisses.

The firs portcullis is followed by a small chamber. A corridor that opens in the south wall of this chamber leads south, to a second small chamber, from where the next corridor leads back west.

This corridor leads to a bigger chamber, which has two corridors branching of to the north. The first corridor appears to be a blind corridor and does not lead anywhere. The second one opens onto a small descending stairway and then to a fairly long and narrow chamber.

An opening in the middle of the western wall of this chamber leads to two consecutive portcullises, followed by a secondary burial chamber branching of to the north and the actual burial chamber in the west.

The burial chamber was constructed out of a massive quartzite block, with the sarcophagus and canopic compartments hewn into its floor. Like the three portcullises, the burial chamber was never closed.

The secondary burial chamber is a surprising feature of this substructure. That is is a burial chamber is shown by the presence of a niche that was intended as canopic compartment. It is, however, not clear if this chamber was intended as an actual burial chamber, for instance for the queen; or if it was intended as a ritual burial chamber for the king's Ka. In the latter case, that would be a deviation from the tradition to have these Ka-tombs located south of the actual tomb.

The complexity of the substructure allows us to date this monument to the same period as the Mazghuna pyramids, i.e. shortly after the reign of Amenemhat III, somewhere in the early 13th Dynasty. The lack of any inscribed objects found at or near the site, however, makes it impossible to credit it to any particular king.

Map of the unfinished pyramid at Saqqara.
Source: Lehner, Complete Pyramids, p. 187.