Sneferu was the father of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid, and he was married to Queen Hetepheres, whose beautiful funerary equipment was found in a shaft at Giza. It was subsequently restored and can now be seen in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. We know of many important events during his reign due to an inscription on a stone block known as the Palermo stone. From this we learn about his wars in the west and trading missions for wood in Lebanon.

During the initial stages of constructing the Bent Pyramid the blocks were laid sloping inwards, just as had been done with the earlier step pyramids, although this pyramid was planned from the start to be a true, smooth-sided pyramid. Then, roughly half-way up the pyramid the decision was taken to lay the blocks horizontally and to lessen the angle of slope for the second time. This reduced the stress on the interior chambers of the pyramid and led to its distinctive bend. It also reduced the amount of masonry needed to complete the pyramid. The ground below the pyramid was unstable and so these drastic measures had to be taken to save the monument from collapsing.

The interior of the pyramid is also unusual. There are two entrances: one on the north side and another on the west side. The northern entrance is about 11.8 metres high off the ground, from here you descend down a long thin shaft for about 80 metres. You then enter a corbelled room. Then, in order to reach the lower burial chamber 6.25 metres up the south wall, you must now climb a wooden set of stairs.

The western shaft is gentler in slope than the northern one, heading down about 65 metres to another burial chamber, higher up in the body of the pyramid than that from the northern entrance. Ancient cedar wood can be seen in this chamber, placed there to help relieve the stress on the chambers.

I once came here with a group of my students from the American University in Cairo, and introduced them to my good friend Dr. Rainer Stadelmann, who has dedicated his life to the study of pyramids and was excavating at Dashur at the time. When we entered the pyramid we had an odd experience that is unique to the Bent Pyramid, and something that had been noted by earlier explorers. Standing within the pyramid you can sometimes feel cool air flowing from inside the pyramid to the exit. This means that one of the chambers could be connected to the outside, indicating that there could still be more secret chambers left to discover.

In about the 30^th year of his reign Sneferu stopped work on the Bent Pyramid and began the construction of a new pyramid in the north of Dashur. We will learn about this important pyramid in my next article.