<P> The South Tomb has been likened to the satellite pyramids of later Dynasties, and has been proposed to house the ka in the afterlife . Another proposal is that it may have held the canopic jar with the king's organs, but this does not follow later trends where the canopic jar is found in the same place as the body . These proposals stem from the fact that the granite burial vault is much too small to have facilitated an actual burial . </P> <P> The substructure of the South Tomb is entered through a tunnel - like corridor with a staircase that descends about 30m before opening up into the pink granite burial chamber . The staircase then continues west and leads to a gallery that imitates the blue chambers below the step pyramid . </P> <P> Current evidence suggests that the South Tomb was finished before the pyramid . The symbolic king's inner palace, decorated in blue faience, is much more complete than that of the pyramid . Three chambers of this substructure are decorated in blue faience to imitate reed - mat facades, just like the pyramid . One room is decorated with three finely niche reliefs of the king, one depicting him running the Heb - sed . Importantly, Egyptian builders chose to employ their most skilled artisans and depict their finest art in the darkest, most inaccessible place in the complex . This highlights the fact that this impressive craftsmanship was not meant for the benefit of the living but was meant to ensure the king had all the tools necessary for a successful afterlife . </P> <P> The design of the Step Pyramid used royal cubits . The superstructure of the Step Pyramid is six steps / seven levels (including rooftop) and was built in six stages, as might be expected with an experimental structure . The pyramid began as a square mastaba (this designation as a mastaba is contended for several reasons) (M1) which was gradually enlarged, first evenly on all four sides (M2) and later just on the east side (M3). The mastaba was built up in two stages, first to form a four - stepped structure (P1) and then to form a six - stepped structure (P2), which now had a rectangular base on an east--west axis . The fact that the initial mastaba was square has led many to believe that the monument was never meant to be a mastaba, as no other known mastabas had ever been square . When the builders began to transform the mastaba into the four step pyramid, they made a major shift in construction . Like in the construction of the mastaba, they built a crude core of rough stones and then cased them in fine limestone with packing in between . The major difference is that in mastaba construction they laid horizontal courses, but for the pyramid layers, they built in accretion layers that leaned inwards, while using blocks that were both bigger and higher quality . Much of the rock for the pyramid was likely quarried from the construction of the great trench . It is widely accepted that ramps would have been used to raise heavy stone to construct the pyramid, and many plausible models have been suggested . For transport, apparatuses like rollers were used in which the heavy stone could be placed and then rolled . </P>

Who was the architect of the stepped pyramid of djoser and why is he significant