| Discussion of virtual reconstruction and interpretative choices |
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The publication of Lehner (1997: 17, 161-162) was used for the core pyramid measurements; Verner (2001: 362-364, 464-65) was used for the base measurements of queen’s pyramids, and (2001: 366-367) for the valley temple and causeway; the heights and angles of the queens’ satellite pyramids is unknown, so those are highly hypothetical and estimated based on their base size (5m, 5m and 4m)The plan of the enclosure wall and highly stylized memorial temple for the complex is based on the Jéquier plan (1940: pl. 1), with both simply extruded up to a 5m height; the enclosures for the queen's pyramids are also based on the Jéquier plan (extruded to 3m) and do not include the interior spaces/temples/chapels shown on that plan; the girdle wall around the pyramid was hypothetically extruded 2m in order to sit below the enclosure wall height, as the original height is not suggested in the original Jéquier publicationCauseway: Jéquier’s plan (1940: pl. 1) shows the turns and angles in parts of the causeway, and documented the length (400 m between the mapped parts), based on limestone blocks found marking the start of the path near the valley temple and a series of fragmentary blocks of limestone some meters further on (1940: 9), and these were used for the general design of the model; based on the height of individual layers of blocks discovered in the field, Jéquier estimated the total height of the causeway measured between 3.5-3.8m (1940: 10), 3.8m was used in the model for height; his plan shows the causeway measuring approximately 6.8m wide, which was used for the modelValley temple: Jéquier reported that the building was mostly destroyed, and remains included granite thresholds from original doors and one granite doorjamb from the structure (1940: 3-4), the excavator noted that his reconstruction was therefore highly hypothetical, including the cornice on the upper wall (1940: 5), and other detailing; Jéquier (1940: pls. 2, 10, fig. 5) provided a hypothetical axial reconstruction of the temple that was generally followed in the model, with a 3-leveled terrace structure on both the ends of the temple with upper level 5m tall from interior floor to exterior roof (not including rounded cornice), middle layer 5m, and lower layer 4.5m; none of the granite doors or thresh hold detailing described by the publication was added into the modelThe pyramid form (in concert with all the Dynasty 4-6 pyramids in the model) alters to a deflating ‘ruin’ in the 3D model at the time-slide to Dynasty 18 (1548 BCE), approximately 1000 years after its construction in Dynasty 6; this does not correspond with a single destruction event in reality, but represents a general marker to the reader that many of the stone monuments of the Old Kingdom may have been naturally deflating or intentionally reused or their stone repurposed during the New Kingdom, see: Jaromir Málek, “A meeting of the old and new: Saqqara during the New Kingdom,” in Studies in Pharaonic religion and society: in honour of J. Gwyn Griffiths, ed. Alan B Lloyd (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1992), 60, 65-73; inscribed blocks from the Unas causeway and other Old Kingdom monuments have been identified as reused in the New Kingdom temple tombs by their recent excavators (see Section 2)
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