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The Great Step Pyramid of Djoser: History, Geology and Nanoplankton Content from its Rock Casing
Jhonny E. Casas1, Mayra Cañizares2 and Ivan Baritto2
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DOI:10.17265/2328-2193/2023.01.001
1. Departamento de Petróleo, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas 1050, Venezuela
2. Gerencia de Exploración, INTEVEP, Los Teques 1201, Venezuela
The Great Step Pyramid of Djoser is an archaeological site in the Saqqara necropolis. This six-tiered, four-sided structure is the oldest stone colossal building in Egypt, built in the 27th century B.C., to bury Pharaoh Djoser. On the plateaus and escarpments of the Nile Valley flanks, limestones were mined to be used as core material for many pyramids and temples during the Old Kingdom. The step pyramid, when completed, had a thin limestone casing on top. The Saqqara plateau is made up mostly of rocks from the middle-upper Eocene, with the Mokkatam Formation as the most important, relative to the main materials used in the construction of the necropolises. A limestone sample, most likely used in the casing of Djoser’s pyramid, was analyzed from its nannofossil content. The nannofossil association, defined a middle Eocene age (upper Lutetian to Bartonian) corresponding to zones NP16 and NP17 (42.4 to 36.8 Ma), based on the first occurrence of Reticulofenestra umbilica and the last occurrence of Chiasmolithus grandis. This dating suggests that this pyramid casing material, corresponded to the Giushi Member of the Mokattam Formation.
Egypt, Djoser, pyramid, Eocene, nannofossils.
Casas, M. E., Cañizares, M. and Baritto, I., 2023. "The Great Step Pyramid of Djoser: History, Geology and Nanoplankton Content from its Rock Casing." Journal of Geological Resource and Engineering 11 (2023): 1-9.
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