Petrie excavated the pyramids of Usertsen (Senusret) II and Amenem-hat
III. His discoveries have already been described by Prof. Maspero in his
history, so that it will suffice here merely to compare them with the
results of M. de Morgan's later work at Dashur and that of MM. Gautier
and Jequier at Lisht, to note recent conclusions in connection with
them, and to describe the newest discoveries in the same region.
Both pyramids are of brick, lined with stone, like those of Dashur, with
some differences of internal construction, since stone walls exist in
the interior. The central chambers and passages leading to them were
discovered; and in both cases the passages are peculiarly complex, with
dumb chambers, great stone portcullises, etc., in order to mislead
and block the way to possible plunderers. The extraordinary sepulchral
chamber of the Hawara pyramid, which, though it is over twenty-two feet
long by ten feet wide over all, is hewn out of one solid block of hard
yellow quartzite, gives some idea of the remarkable facility of dealing
with huge stones and the love of utilizing them which is especially
characteristic of the XIIth Dynasty. The pyramid of Hawara was provided
with a funerary temple the like of which had never been known in Egypt
before and was never known afterwards. It was a huge building far larger
than the pyramid itself, and built of fine limestone and crystalline
white quartzite, in a style eminently characteristic of the XIIth
Dynasty.
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