More than 3,000 year-old pyramid belonging to Egypt pharaoh's vizier discovered

More than 3,000 year-old pyramid belonging to Egypt pharaoh's vizier discovered

Sunday, February 24, 2013

CAIRO (AFP).- A pyramid that dates back more than 3,000 years and built for an advisor to King Ramses II has been discovered in Luxor, Egypt's state minister for antiquities said.

The remains of the large mudbrick pyramid -- whose original height was 15 metres (49 feet) -- was unearthed during excavations on the hill of Sheikh Abdel Qurna by a Belgian mission of the Universite libre de Bruxelles and Universite de Liege, Mohammed Ibrahim said.

"Stamp impressions on the bricks indicate that the pyramid belongs to a vizier of Upper and Lower Egypt named Khay, who held this charge for 15 years during the reign of pharaoh Ramses II (1279 -1213 BC) in the 19th dynasty," the mission said in a statement.

"The monument was largely dismantled in the 7th and 8th century AD, when the tomb was transformed into a Coptic hermitage," it said.

The discovery is of major importance "since the vizier Khay was known to Egyptologists by a large number of documents but the location of his tomb remained undiscovered," the mission said.

Luxor, ancient Thebes, is a treasure trove of ancient Egyptian architecture and artefacts.

The city, a major tourist spot, has been badly affected by insecurity gripping the country since the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=60925

No picture or sketch of the pyramid unfortunately. Considering the age (only about 3,000 y/o) and the small size (only 49 feet in height, compared to the Great Pyramid's 756 feet), I think this one was a replica of the old ones.

There are some very interesting ancient sites in Peru and the MS archaeology labeled them as Inca, but Brien Foerster suggests that the original architects were a pre-Inca civilization, more technologically advanced than the Incas. The Inca sites are merely replicas of the original sites and its visible even to the untrained eye.

IMO this pyramid may be one of the few pyramids constructed entirely by humans, without any "outside" help.

Cool find and thanks for sharing.