The town of El-Lahun and the pyramid of Senusret II

El-Lahun is a town and pyramid complex founded by Senusret II. The ancient name of the site was literally "Mouth (or Opening) of the Canal". It was known as Ptolemais Hormos in Ptolemaic Egypt. The site contains many artifacts of daily life like pottery from the Middle Kingdom and evidence of administrative procedures seen on papyri and seals.

The pyramid at Lahun is dedicated to King Senusret II and is located west of the town. While other Twelfth Dynasty pyramids in the Faiyum are made of mudbrick, the core of this pyramid consists of a network of stone walls that were infilled by mudbrick. It stands on an artificial terrace cut from sloping ground. On the north side, many mastabas were found, probably for the burial of personages associated with the royal court, alongside the Queen's Pyramid or subsidiary pyramid believed to have been for Queen Atmuneferu.

The village of El-Lahun, also known as Kahun, is believed to have been inhabited by the workers who constructed the pyramid and served the funerary cult of the king. The town was orthogonally planned, with mudbrick town walls on three sides. A mudbrick wall running north to south divided about one third of the area of the town, creating a western section with rows of back-to-back, side-by-side single room houses. The eastern section contains mansions, medium sized houses, and small houses.

Mansions were significantly larger than the other houses and contained granaries on one side of the building that could hold enough grain for the entire town. In the smaller houses, papyri and copper tools have been found. A major feature of the town was the so-called "acropolis" building, roughly the same size as the other mansions, located at the end of the main street to the west. It was most likely made for the mayor based on the seals and seal impressions found. The mudbrick building was built on a platform carved out of existing stone.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons