mirrored file at http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== _Saqqara_ Situated about 10 miles south of the Giza pyramids, the pyramid/temple complex at Saqqara is regarded by Egyptologists as the earliest massive stone construction in Egypt. It is dominated by the enormous Step Pyramid, attributed to the 3rd Dynasty Pharaoh, Zoser. Other interesting features of this site include the Pyramid of Unas - not remarkable from an external perspective but rather for the discovery inside of the famous "Pyramid Texts", the oldest funery texts yet discovered in Egypt, painstakingly carved into the walls and ceiling of its inner chamber. These texts are thought to have been composed partly by the Heliopolitan preisthood in the late 3rd millenium BC, and partly from older texts, handed down from pre-dynastic times. Another remarkable feature of the site is the Serapeum - an underground complex featuring tunnels off which are cut 24 "burial niches" containing incredible sarcophagi, each carved out of a single piece of granite. Each of these sarcophagi, from an engineering point of view, is a precision-carved masterpiece - they are 13 feet high, by 11 feet long, by 7 feet in width, and weigh close to 100 tons with the lid in place. And, although they may have been rough hewn outside in the open air, the presence of an unfinished box in the tunnel complex strongly suggests that they were actually finished _underground._ This makes sense from an engineering point of view, as granite has a tendancy to "creep" (slight changes in shape), when moved from a hot open air environment, to a colder underground environment. I would very much like to discuss these features in greater detail, but again we were prevented from viewing either of them by the now familiar "closed to the public" line. I was diappointed by this, especially added to the Great Pyramid fiasco, but on the other hand, it was getting later in the morning, coachload upon coachload of tourists were arriving, and we had Dashur down the road to look forward to. So we took our final photos, and decided to move on. Below are some views of the main features of the Saqqara complex. _Click on thumbnails for full-size images_ [1]saqqara2 [2]saqqara3 [3]saqqara5 [4]saqqara4 [5]saqqara1 [6]backbanpastel References 1. http://www.ancient-mysteries.com/Saqarra/saqq2/saqq2.html 2. http://www.ancient-mysteries.com/Saqarra/saqq3/saqq3.html 3. http://www.ancient-mysteries.com/Saqarra/saqq1/saqq1.html 4. http://www.ancient-mysteries.com/Saqarra/saqq5/saqq5.html 5. http://www.ancient-mysteries.com/Saqarra/saqq4/saqq4.html 6. http://www.ancient-mysteries.com/index.html