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Sneferu’s Pyramid at Meidum; the central core structure remains, surrounded by a mountain of rubble from the collapsed outer casing

Sneferu’s Pyramid at Meidum; the central core structure remains, surrounded by a mountain of rubble from the collapsed outer casing

The pyramid at Meidum is one of three constructed during the reign of Sneferu, and is believed by some to have been commenced by that pharaoh’s father and predecessor, Huni. However, this is not very likely, as his name does not appear on the site. Some archaeologists also suggest that the Meidum pyramid may have been the first unsuccessful attempt at the construction of a “true” or smooth-sided pyramid.

The pyramid suffered a catastrophic collapse in antiquity, and today only the central parts of its stepped inner core remain standing, giving it an odd tower-like appearance that is unique among Egyptian pyramids. The hill that the pyramid sits atop is not a natural landscape feature — it is in fact the small mountain of debris created when the lower courses and outer casing of the pyramid gave way.

One face of the pyramid at Meidum collapsed and was shorn off around the year 2600 BC, during the placement of its outer walls. The Meidum pyramid was a true pyramid, a tetrahedron, whereas Djoser’s pyramid was a step pyramid, made of stacked rectangular mastabas. At the Meidum pyramid, the buttresses were not extended to include the structurally significant outer casing.

This addition of the limestone casing without sideways structural support proved fatal, and massive rubble mounds can still be seen beneath the base of the pyramid today. Following this disaster, the builders must have reevaluated their method. The success of Djoser’s pyramid and the failure of the one at Meidum laid out a blueprint followed for the remainder of pyramid construction in Egypt.

It has been suggested that the collapse occurred while construction was underway on the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur (also built by Sneferu), and that this may have been one of the reasons for the design changes implemented during construction of the latter edifice. About 50 meters off the ground, the angle of ascent abruptly changes. Some experts have theorised that the builders of the Bent Pyramid changed their construction techniques after learning of the failure at Meidum. Since there are no known collapses of pyramids built after Meidum, we can surmise that innovations — and the disastrous results when these ideas were not followed — were effective lessons. When a structure fails it does so because of an error in design, and oftentimes this design flaw can be recognised and fixed; pyramids built later than Meidum demonstrate inward slanting of the outer casing. Later architects seem to have understood that the limestone covering of their pyramids held significance in structure as well as aesthetics.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramids