Abu Rawash

Abu Rowash (Abu Rawash) in Egypt is located in the continuation of the Gebel el-Ghigiga, which is on the western fringe of the Nile Valley (30o2'N, 31o4'E). This archaeological site belongs to the very northern part of the necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, and joins various sites together that date from the  Early Dynastic Period to the  Coptic Christian Period. Gebel Abu Rowash, an elevation in the region, is limited in the north by the depression of Wadi Qarun and in the south by Wadi el-Hassanah, where a section of the desert route leads from  Cairo on the Nile River to  Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. This site with an elevation of about 150 meters owes its name to the vicinity of the village of Abu Rowash, which is located about eight kilometers north of the  Giza pyramids and about fifteen kilometers west of Cairo. Here, the  funerary complex of Djedefre, the  third ruler of ancient Egypt's   4th Dynasty was built at the top of this escarpment, on the plateau of Gaa. The location of this pyramid, making it the most northerly major pyramid in Egypt,

In Wadi Qarun to the north, many sites have been worked archaeologically since the beginning of the twentieth century. At the turn of the century, Charles Palanque excavated the Coptic monastery of El-Deir el-Nahya, which was constructed using many blocks form the Djedefre Pyramid.  in 1980, Zahi Hawass, current chairman of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, found a necropolis of the Early Dynastic Period. It should also be noted that part of a statue of Queen Arsinoe II, the sister and wife of Ptolemy II Philadelphus who was the second ruler of Egypt's Greek Period, was discovered in the Wadi. Research goes on at Abu Rowash. A joint mission of the French Institute and the University of Geneva, together with the collaboration of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, initiated a new program at the funerary complex of Djedefre in 1995. Today, this mission directed my Michel Valloggia. Like all such tomb complexes of the Old Kingdom, this monumental complex was built with a harbor on the Nile and several buildings in sequence. There was, of course, a temple at the foot of an ascending causeway that led to a funerary temple next to the royal pyramid, which included a satellite pyramid and one or more solar barks, the whole of which was surrounded by an enclosure wall. Only recently, a second subsidiary pyramid ha been discovered that appears to be that of a queen's tomb. The complex began to deteriorate at the beginning of the Roman period when it served as a quarry. That did not end with the Romans, as its use as a quarry continued into modern times. In fact, the site was in much better condition when Perring and Vyse visited it in 1839 then it is today.

In fact, the recent excavations have revealed some interesting facts and cleared up other issues. For example, the Romans maintained a sizable force in this location due to its tactical elevation. And, it has been discovered, that it was they who wrought much of the destruction which, previously, had been attributed to the 4th Dynasty. That destruction had suggested a problem with the reign of Djedefre, indicating perhaps that his successors had caused it as retribution for Djedefre's illegitimate rule, but now such theories have been cast aside. It has also been fairly well determined that his pyramid was, in fact, completed whereas in the past it was thought not to have been

Sources : touregypt.net.