Abu Gorab

North of Nyuserre's sun temple is a cemetery dating back to the First Dynasty of Egypt (c. 3100–2900 BCE), where people belonging to the middle ranks of the Ancient Egyptian society were buried. ==Sun temple of Nyuserre Ini==

The Sun Temple of Nyuserre was excavated by Egyptologists Ludwig Borchardt and Friedrich Willhelm von Bissing sometime between 1898 and 1901, on behalf of the Berlin Museum. The sun temple is situated near Memphis, and is closely linked with the Abusir necropolis, both geographically and functionally. The temple was constructed on the orders of Nyuserre Ini, sixth king of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt. The complex is primarily built out of mudbrick covered with limestone, and is situated on the shores of the ancient Abusir lake bed. Accompanying these seasonal scenes are illustrations of seasonal activities (i.e. netting fish, trapping birds, making papyrus boats, and phases of the agricultural cycle). The vast illustrations of animal and plant life as well as human engagement with nature may be some of the earliest extensive corpus of such scenes. The artwork was likely commissioned by King Nyuserre himself. Although, the reliefs do not reflect typical royal funerary decoration scene during The Old Kingdom, and although skilfully designed, they are not as carefully executed as similar carvings from the 4th and early 5th dynasties. The image to the right shows a fragmented relief from the temple. The carving portrays Egyptians trapping birds in a clap net. The clap net itself is missing, but six men are shown in the lower register holding the rope that will pull the net shut. In the upper right register, two figures are shown caging two birds that have already been caught, while in the upper left corner, a cow and her calf make up the remnants of a much larger animal husbandry scene. Nearly all reliefs at the site were removed, mostly to German collections, and many perished during World War II. Unfortunately as a result, today nearly all reliefs have been either destroyed or severely fragmented. ==Other ruins==

The German archaeological expedition under the direction of Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing uncovered the ruins of large buildings of mudbricks beneath the sun temple of Nyuserre in Abu Gorab. It is possible that these represent the remains of the sun temple of Neferefre, called Ra Hotep, "Ra's offering table", although this is still conjectural. In August 2022, archaeologists from the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw announced the discovery of a 4,500-year-old temple dedicated to the Egyptian sun god Ra. The recently discovered sun temple was made from mud bricks and was about 60 meters long by 20 m wide. According to Massimiliano Nuzzolo, co-director of the excavation, storage rooms and other rooms may have been served for cultic purposes and the walls of the building were all plastered in black and white. The L-shaped entrance portico had two limestone columns and was partly made of white limestone. Dozens of well-preserved beer jars and several well-made and red-lined vessels, seal impressions, including seals of the pharaohs who ruled during the fifth and sixth dynasties were also uncovered. One of the earliest seals might belonged to pharaoh Shepseskare, who ruled Egypt before Nyuserre. ==See also==