Shunet El Zebib

Archaeological site in Egypt

Shunet El Zebib (Arabic:شونة الزبيب lit. "raisin barn" or "storage of the raisins"

The inner area consists of a largely empty court; it is unknown if there were some substructures and/or larger buildings (such as a shrine or temple). In 1988, Australian Egyptologist David O'Connor discovered a square, flat mount made of fine limestone rubble, covered with mudbricks and forming four flat steps. It is located at the very midst of the court, its true purpose is still unknown. The only cultic building that can be archaeologically attested is a small chapel close to the south eastern corner. Its ruins are also made of hardened mud bricks.

Shunet El Zebib is of great importance to archaeologists, Egyptologists and historians alike. The Institute of Fine Arts at New York City led and promoted several preservation campaigns between 2002 and 2007, mostly focused on the enclosure walls. These are heavily damaged and at some sections in danger of collapse. Most damage comes, beside natural aging due neglect after abandonment, from local hornets of the species Vespa orientalis. They burrow their nests into the walls, hollow out the inner bricks and thus make the walls highly unstable. Another danger to the structure are wild jackals, which attentively observe excavators' diggings and then burrow under the foundation of the structure in the hopes of catching roused prey. Under the guidance of Matthew Douglas Adams and David O'Connor, preservation works still focus on the filling of gaps and holes in the enclosure walls, approximately 250,000 new mud bricks were already created. In the meantime, the southern entrance has been reconstructed at the site. Because of the stunning architectural similarities between Shunet El Zebib and the Pyramid complex of 3rd dynasty king Djoser, archaeologists and Egyptologists often describe the "Middle Fort" as a direct forerunner of the step pyramid complexes. The flat, stepped inner mount of the Shunet El Zebib is even considered a "proto pyramid".