A Provincial Pyramid: Recent investigations at the small Step Pyramid at El-Ghonemiya-Edfu (original) (raw)

Abstract

The small step pyramid at El-Ghonemiya, 5 km South of the ancient settlement of Behdet, is one of the oldest monuments recorded in the Edfu region, Upper Egypt. It belongs to a group of seven such provincial monuments from the early Old Kingdom (end of the 3rd - early 4th Dynasty, ca. 2600 B.C.). These small non-funerary step pyramids were set up in the provinces apparently close to some important towns (provincial capitals or major settlements during the Predynastic Period) and have been used as political and symbolic constructions to support the royal cult of the living pharaoh and/or the sun cult, which was a central premise within the ideology of kingship during the Old Kingdom. The phenomenon of building such pyramids in a provincial setting was short-lived and the manner in which it was geographically articulated appears to be fully congruent with novel policies and administrative divisions being implemented in Upper Egypt by the ‘centralized state’ in Memphis during the same period. Since 2010, a team from the Tell Edfu Project (The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago) carried out a short survey and extensive cleaning of the archaeological area with the aim of documenting for the first time the superstructure itself including its surrounding landscape. This lecture will present the initial results of these investigations, the conservation activities as well as the long-term site management problems. It will also discuss the historical and political significance of constructing small non-funerary pyramids outside of the royal necropolis and its implications for our knowledge of the Edfu region during this early phase of the Old Kingdom.

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