Opposite the south face of the Pyramid of Unis, an inauspicious shack covers the shaft leading to three of Egypt’s deepest burial chambers, the Persian Tombs of sanitik, Zenhebu, and Peleese. A dizzying spiral staircase drills 25m into the S^und, terminating in three vaulted burial chambers linked by narrow passage-ays. According to the ancient inscriptions, Zenhebu was a famous admiral and ^juntik a chief physician of the pharaoh’s court.

Of the Pyramid of Unis, a 100m path leads into the desert to the “‘"‘led Pyramid of Sekhemkhet, a paltry pile of rubble unearthed in 1951. The pyramid was intended as a replica of its neighbor, the Pyramid of Zoser, but construction was abandoned with its walls at a height of only 3m. East of the Pyramid of Unis a smooth, narrow causeway runs down the hill. Nearly lkm long, it linked the pyramid with a lower valley temple at the banks of the river. Strewn by the causeway’s sides are the Old Kingdom Tombs. Over 250 mastabas have been excavated here, though only a few of the larger and best preserved are open to the public.

The 6th-dynasty Mastaba of Idut, adjacent to the southern enclosure wall of Zos-er’s funerary complex and just east of the Pynunid of Unis, includes 10 chambers. Nearby are the Mastaba of Mehu and the Mastaba of Queen Nebet. South of the causeway is a pair of enormous Boat Pits, side by side 100m east of the Pyramids of Unis. There is some speculation as to whether the pits were intended to house the royal barques (as at Giza) or whether these finely sculpted trenches of stone were meant as simple representations of boats.