Gautier and Jequier excavated the pyramid of Usertsen
(Sen-usret) I. The most remarkable find was a cache of the seated
statues of the king in white limestone, in absolutely perfect condition.
They were found lying on their sides, just as they had been hidden. Six
figures of the king in the form of Osiris, with the face painted red,
were also found. Such figures seem to have been regularly set up in
front of a royal sepulchre; several were found in front of the funerary
temple of Mentu-hetep III, Thebes, which we shall describe later. A
fine altar of gray granite, with representations in relief of the nomes
bringing offerings, was also recovered. The pyramid of Lisht itself is
not built of bricks, like those of Dashur, but of stone. It was not,
however, erected in so solid a fashion as those of earlier days at Giza
or Abusir, and nothing is left of it now but a heap of debris. The XIIth
Dynasty architects built walls of magnificent masonry, as we have
seen, and there is no doubt that the stone casing of their pyramids
was originally very fine, but the interior is of brick or rubble; the
wonderful system of building employed by kings of the IVth Dynasty at
Giza was not practised.
South of Lisht is Illahun, and at the entrance to the province of the
Fayyum, and west of this, nearer the Fayyum, is Hawara, where Prof.
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