Bronze Age · c. 2445–2421 BC · Abu Ghurab, Abusir, Giza Governorate, Egypt
Valley temple of Nyuserra's sun temple excavated at Abusir in Egypt
An Italian team has cleared more than half of the 4,400-year-old Fifth Dynasty building, which groundwater kept out of reach after its location was identified in 1901.
Official announcement
Abu Ghurab, Abusir, Egypt Archaeologists from Italy have uncovered more than half of the Valley Temple of Nyuserra's sun temple complex in Egypt. Nyuserra was a king of Egypt's Fifth Dynasty who reigned around 2445–2421 BC. The building lies at Abu Ghurab, in the Abusir necropolis south-west of Cairo. It covers an area of more than 1,000 square metres.
The site of the temple has been known for well over a century. Its location was identified in 1901. Excavation was impossible at the time because the groundwater was too high.
A team from the Universities of Turin and Naples has now reached the building. To do so, they cleared silt more than 1.2 metres deep.
A temple at the water's edge
Fifth Dynasty kings built sun temples for the sun god Ra alongside their pyramids. Nyuserra's own pyramid stands at Abusir. In Old Kingdom royal complexes, a valley temple stood lower down, close to the water. It was the entrance to the monument on the higher ground.
According to the report in The Past, Nyuserra's temple is one of only two of this type known to exist. A German expedition led by Ludwig Borchardt excavated the upper part of his sun temple around 1900. That upper part has a massive platform and a squat obelisk.
Portico, ramp and a calendar of ceremonies
Under the silt the team found the original entrance floor and the portico at the front of the building. They also recovered fragments of stone wall from the passageway that led to the solar sanctuary. Granite lintels and doorways came to light with them.
A sloping ramp appears to have connected the temple to the Nile, or to one of its branches. That would fit the usual position of a valley temple at the edge of the river. The report presents the connection as an interpretation, not a certainty.
The smaller finds include two wooden pieces from a game of senet. Senet was a board game played in Egypt for much of its history. The team also found a massive stone lintel inscribed with a calendar of religious ceremonies.
The temple later became a small settlement
The excavation also shows what happened to the building after the Old Kingdom. The team found many pottery fragments dating from the late Old Kingdom through to the early Middle Kingdom.
On that evidence, the royal temple appears to have been turned into a small residential area at the end of the First Intermediate Period. That was the era of divided rule that followed the Old Kingdom.
The pottery dating gives only a broad span. The report does not say what kinds of houses or household remains were found with the sherds.
The excavated portion now exposes the entrance of the temple. It also exposes part of the route that led from the river towards the sanctuary. Less than half of the structure remains to be uncovered.
Sources
- Nyuserra Sun Temple (The Past)
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