Unfinished Northern Pyramid of Zawyet el'Aryan
| Unfinished Northern Pyramid of Zawyet El Aryan | |||||||||
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| Owner uncertain, possibly Bikheris | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 29°56′24.44″N 31°9′5.6″E / 29.9401222°N 31.151556°ECoordinates: 29°56′24.44″N 31°9′5.6″E / 29.9401222°N 31.151556°E | ||||||||
| Ancient name |
Seba ?-Ka Star of ?-Ka |
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| Constructed | ca. 2530 BC | ||||||||
| Type | True pyramid | ||||||||
| Material | natural bedrock, grey granite and pink granite | ||||||||
| Height | N.A. | ||||||||
| Base | 200 m (660 ft) | ||||||||
| Slope | uncertain, possibly 52 deg. | ||||||||
The Unfinished Northern Pyramid of Zawyet El Aryan, also known as Pyramid of Baka and Pyramid of Bikheris is the term Archaeologists and Egyptologists use to describe a large shaft part of an unfinished pyramid at Zawyet El Aryan in Egypt. It is dated by mainstream scholars to the early or the mid-4th Dynasty (2613–2494 BC) during the Old Kingdom period. The pyramid owner is not known for certain and most egyptologists, such as Miroslav Verner, think it should be a king known under his hellenized name, Bikheris, perhaps from the Egyptian Baka. On the contrary, Wolfgang Helck and other egyptologists doubt this attribution.
The first descriptions of the monument were made between 1842 and 1846 by the German egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius. He investigated the main shaft and its surroundings and marked the pyramid in his pioneering list as Pyramid XIII.
The pyramid shaft was examined more closely in 1904–1905 by the Italian archaeologist Alessandro Barsanti.Gaston Maspero, then director-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt, visited Barsanti's excavations and was struck by the monumental size of the construction. He writes:
Barsanti undertook further work on the site in 1911–1912 but the First World War brought all excavations to an halt and Barsanti died in 1917. As a consequence, nothing happened on the site until 1954 when a set was needed for the epic film "Land of the Pharaohs". The landscape of Zawyet El Aryan seemed to be the perfect place and the pyramid of Baka was chosen as a backdrop for the movie. Consequentlty, the shaft and its surroundings were cleared from the sand and rubbles which had covered the area since Barsanti's excavations.
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