Pyramid of Djedefre

29.8000°N, 31.0833°E.

Pyramid of fourth-dynasty pharaoh Djedefre at Abu Roash, 8 km north of Giza on the highest point of the surrounding plateau (152 m elevation). Construction begun approximately 2528 BCE; current height approximately 12 metres on a 106-metre square base, with the original apex possibly never completed. Djedefre's pyramid was deliberately demolished in late Roman times for reuse of its high-quality limestone in Cairo; the destruction was so thorough that the pyramid was unrecognizable as such until French excavations in 1900. The substructure includes an open trench leading down to a granite-lined burial chamber, which was found empty. Djedefre was the eldest son of Khufu and an elder half-brother of Khafre; his eight-year reign was followed by Khafre's longer rule, and the conventional history reads the abandonment of Abu Roash as Khafre relocating royal patronage back to Giza.

The grandson of Sneferu built the highest-elevation Old Kingdom pyramid on the cliff above Giza — and the Romans came back fifteen centuries later and quarried it down to its foundation.