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The Egyptian Expedition

Author(s): A. M. LythgoeReviewed work(s):Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Apr., 1907), pp. 60-63Published by: The Metropolitan Museum of ArtStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3253285 .

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3. PYRAMID OF AMENEMHAT I, AND 1'tJE ADVANCE OF THE RAILWAY

THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITIONT HE Expeditionorganized o car-ry on excavations in Egypt onbehalf of the Museum, announce-ment of which was made in theBulletin of November last, began activework the middle of January on a conces-sion granted to it by the Egyptian Gov-ernment at the Pyramids of Lisht. Thesetwo pyramids are near the southern endof the pyramid-field at a point aboutthirty-five miles south of Cairo, with thepyramid of Medim still further to thesouth and the Dashir and Sakkara groupsnext on the north.The Lisht pyramids both date from themiddle Empire-the northernmost havingbeen identified as belonging to King Am-enemhat I., of the twelfth dynasty, andthe southernmost as that of his son andsuccessor Usertesen I.-and stand upontwo rising desert-hills, about one and ahalf kilometres apart and but a few hun-dred metres back from the edge of thecultivated land of the Nile valley. Likeall the others, these pyramids have servedas stone quarries for the builders of suc-ceeding periods. and in each case, when

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stripped of its casing, the more looselyconstructed core has in its outer partbecome disintegrated, thus covering theconstruction with a coating of debris anddrift-sand.Previous to the present work of thisexpedition on the site M. Maspero, in1882, carried on investigations1 whichresulted in the identification of the pyra-mids as given above, but he was preventedfrom reaching the burial-chamber of eitherpyramid by the occurrence of water in thelower levels of their entrance passages.In 1894-95 excavations were undertakenat Lisht by the French Institute of Ori-ental Archaeology at Cairo.2 That workwas confined principally to the southernpyramid, that of Usertesen I., and to theclearing of the pyramid-temple, nearwhich they found a series of ten life-sizedseated statues of the king which originallystood in the temple.In undertaking the present work uponthe site we determined to concentrate atfirst on the northern pyramid of Amen-

1Bulletin de l'nistittut Egvplien, 1883.2 Memoires de l'IIstitut Francais d'Arch-tologie Orientale du Caire, vol. 6. Part i.

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I. IPYRAMIDS OF LISHT, FROM THE NORTH EAST. ON THE RIGHT, THAT OF AMENEMIIATI; ON THE LEFT, THAT OF USERTESEN I

2. PYRAMID OF AMENEMHAT I, FROM THE SOUTH60


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BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

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4. CROSSING THE BASE OF THE PYRAMID; LOOKING NORTHEASTemhat and on the cemetery of privatetombs about it, upon which the Frenchhad made only tentative trials and whichfor the greater part remained undisturbedin modern times. We decided, further-more, to begin the work by first clearingthe pyramid along its eastern side, forit was on this side (the river side) of apyramid that the temple stood in whichworship of the King was perpetuated,while on either side of it were often groupedthe tombs of important officialsof his court.In addition to the uncovering of such con-structions if they were still preserved, itwas our hope, in clearing back to the ori-ginal line of the base of the pyramid, torecover perhaps in its lower courses theouter pyramid-facing together with thesurrounding pavement. These havingbeen covered to a certain height withdrift sand and debris, after the pyramidhad ceased to be cared for, would haveescaped the plundering for stone whichthe upper part of the construction suf-fered later on.Our work began with the introduction

of the railway, southward toward the pyra-mid, from a point on the northern edgeof the hill where the debris could bedumped into a valley below, the valleyhaving previously been tested and foundto contain nothing which would be coveredup in the process. The railway was ad-vanced straight in towards the base ofthe pyramid and then carried along closeunder its eastern side. The first step inthe process of clearing was the removalof the upper layer of drift-sand and disin-tegrated limestone (of an average depth ofabout 75 cm.) along the lower slope of thepyramid, thus exposing a hard-packedlevel of debris,-a level resulting from thegeneral ruin of the site after its final de-sertion. We next cut through this level,which proved to have an average depth ofabout 1.25 m., and found scattered overthis side of the pyramid generally, house-walls of mud-brick and other remainswhich proved, from scarabs, beads andsimilar material found in them, to datefrom the Roman period. Having re-corded photographically this level of the


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BULLETIN OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ARTRoman occupation of the site, we arenow cutting down to the original twelfthdynasty level below, and are beginningto expose both tomb-construction of thatperiod and also massive walls of sun-dried brick and of stone, which clearlyoccur in direct relation to the pyramiditself. The debris of this lower level isyielding small objects of the twelfth dy-nasty, such as amulets, scarabs (one ofwhich is inscribed with the name ofAmenemhat I.), and beads, of blue glaze,amethyst, and carnelian.We are now employing a force of 150natives, a part of them trained diggerswhom we brought down from upper Egyptand a part of them taken from Lisht andthe other villages round about. This

force will soon be increased, in order thatwe may both continue the clearing of thepyramid itself and also begin the excava-tion of the contemporary twelfth dynastycemetery which practically surrounds it.Ourconcession, beyond the district immedi-ately about the pyramids, extends north-ward for about nine miles and containscemeteries of other periods which the workof the expedition will cover in due course.The excavations are being carried outunder the joint direction of Arthur C.Mace (Oxford) and myself, with HerbertE. Winlock (Harvard) associated with uson the staff of the expedition.

A. M. LYTHGOE.Pyramids of Lisht,March I, 1907.

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5. PROGRESS OF THE EXCAVATIONS ALONG THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE PYRAMID

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