The Emptiness of Pyramid Sarcophagi

The pyramids of Old Kingdom Egypt are renowned for their size and magnificence, and yet the sarcophagi within them are rarely the finest specimens.

Why are so many of these stone boxes uninscribed, lacking embellishment, and even roughly finished?

This video traces the history of sarcophagi in pyramids from the earliest examples at Saqqara through the 4th, 5th and 6th dynasties to look for patterns and clues. The mastaba field at Giza will be compared with how the finest granite coffers looked among the royal court.

Finally, the unique and sealed empty sarcophagus of Sekhmekhet will give a context that no plundered pyramid can provide.


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Thanks to the Isida Project for pyramid sarcophagi photos: https://isida-project.ucoz.com/

Thanks to the Laboratory of Alternative History for imagery of Sekhemkhet and the Djoser South Tomb
lah.ru
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Thanks to UnchartedX for the imagery of alabaster sarcophagi at the Stepped Pyramid of Djoser
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Thanks to @AncientArchitects for an audio clip on Djoser’s pyramid complex

Thanks to Keith Hamilton for his illustration of Djoser’s South Tomb
https://www.academia.edu/121798851/Dj...

Thanks to the Harvard Digital Giza Archive:
http://giza.fas.harvard.edu/

Graphics Sources:

Zaharia Goneim “Horus Sekhem-khet” The Unfinished Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara Vol. 1, Cairo, 1957

Zakaria Goneim “The Lost Pyramid” Rinehard & Company, USA, 1956

Hermann Junker “Giza Vol 1-11” Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky A.-G., Vienna, 1929-1953

Audran Labrousee “L’architecture des pyramides a textes” Vol 1 & 2, IFAO, Cairo, 2000

John Shae Perring “The Pyramids of Gizeh: Part II. The Great Pyramid” London, 1840

John Shae Perring “Pyramids to the Southward of Gizeh: Part III” London, 1842

William Kelly Simpson “The Mastabas of Kawab, Khafkhufu I and II” Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, 1978

Charles Piazzi Smyth “Life and Work at the Great Pyramid Vol II” Edmonston and Douglas, 1867

Miroslav Verner “The Pyramids (New and Revised) AUC Press Cairo 2020

W.M. Flinders Petrie “Meydum” 1892

W.M. Flinders Petrie & Gerald Wainright, “Meydum and Memphis III”, 1910



Quotations Sources:

Zahi Hawass “The Pyramids of the Old Kingdom” Ahram Online, June 25, 2024
https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCont...

John Shae Perring “Pyramids to the Southward of Gizeh: Part III” London, 1842

Zaharia Goneim “The Lost Pyramid” Rinehard & Company, USA, 1956


00:00 Introduction
1:54 Djoser’s Pyramid Box
2:49 Djoser’s South Tomb
4:54 First Pyramid Sarcophagi
6:13 Sekhemkhet’s Sarcophagus
9:00 Mastaba 17
10:04 Great Pyramid
11:50 Khufu’s Son Kawab
14:04 Sarcophagus Security
16:51 Pyramid Quality Control
18:03 Sealed Sarcophagus
19:26 Sealed Passage
21:53 Planning Ahead