Dahshur, the bent pyramid

Dahshur
(29°48' N 31°14'E)

Site (a few kilometres south of Saqqara) where king Snefru built two pyramids. Only a small area of the Old Kingdom (about 2686-2181 BC) cemetery around the pyramids has yet been excavated. In the Middle Kingdom (about 2025-1700 BC) three pyramids were built, for kings Amenemhat II, Senusret III and Amenemhat III. The contemporary Middle Kingdom cemetery is still relatively little known. De Morgan found here some intact tombs of princesses of the Twelfth Dynasty, and there have been similarly spectacular discoveries in the recent Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York excavations, directed by Dieter Arnold.

the Bent Pyramid (built by Snefru)

The Bent Pyramid is so called on account of the sharp change in angle of slope: the reasons for the change, whether ideological or pragmatic or a mixture of the two, are not documented.

plan of the bent pyramid published in Petrie 1888: pl. XXIV

further literature on the Bent Pyramid:

Fakhry 1959; Fakhry 1961 (excavation reports); Rossi 1999 (on the pyramidion found)

further literature on the third pyramid of Snefru (also known as the Red Pyramid):

Stadelmann/Sourouzian 1982; Stadelmann 1983; Stadelmann 1993 (the preliminary reports on the German excavations at the Red Pyramid)

Stadelmann 1985: 100-105 (summary)

further literature on Dahshur in general:

Alexanian 1999 (publication of a Fourth Dynasty mastaba)
de Morgan 1895, de Morgan 1903 (excavation reports of de Morgan, including the Middle Kingdom pyramids, the Middle Kingdom tombs of the princesses and mastabas of the Old and Middle Kingdom)
de Morgan 1897 (map of Dahshur, Saqqara and Abusir, still very useful)