Two ~5,000-year-old First Dynasty tombs at Djebel Taya / Gebel Taya in Minya show architectural links to King Den's tomb at Abydos. One features tapering walls — thicker at the base, narrowing upward. Muhammad Abdal Badi suggests this may reflect early geometric thinking that eventually led to the step pyramid and true pyramid!
5,000-year-old early dynastic tombs at Djebel Taya / Gebel Taya show tapering walls linked to pyramid origins
Key facts
- Two early dynastic tombs discovered at Djebel Taya / Gebel Taya in the Minya region of Egypt
- Tombs are approximately 5,000 years old and date to the First Dynasty
- Tombs show strong architectural similarities to the tomb of King Den at the royal necropolis of Abydos (Elkab)
- King Den ruled Egypt in the First Dynasty
- One wall of the first tomb has changing thickness, thicker at the bottom and gradually reducing toward the top
- Muhammad Abdal Badi, head of the Egyptian archaeological sector, stated the wall design may reflect early geometric thought leading to the step pyramid and true pyramid
- Earliest mastabas with vertical walls are found at the Tarkan necropolis in the First Dynasty
- Mastabas later evolved to have sloping walls for stability, eventually developing into the step pyramid
Site mentioned
📍 Djebel Taya / Gebel Taya🌍 Show on the globe
Sources
archaeologymag.com
Linked in video description
Keep exploring
Every site on this page sits on the globe, and the people who research them are on the Discord.
3D Globe · Sites by country · Story Archive · Research Library · Weekly Journal · Search
AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.