Unfinished Pyramid of Shepseskare

29.8986°N, 31.2017°E.

The unfinished pyramid of Shepseskare at Abusir, attributed to a Fifth-Dynasty pharaoh whose reign of approximately seven months in 2453–2446 BCE produced no completed monuments. Original planned base approximately 73 metres per side; only the foundation trench and the lowest course of the substructure were ever cut into the bedrock. The site was identified in 1980 by Miroslav Verner of the Czech Institute of Egyptology after surface survey suggested an unfinished royal precinct between the pyramids of Sahure and Neferirkare. Shepseskare is one of the most poorly attested kings in Egyptian history: he appears in the Saqqara king list, on a single sealing recovered from the temple of Neferirkare, and in this abandoned construction site. The cause of his removal from the throne — death, deposition, or political compromise — is unrecorded.

An unfinished pyramid for a king who reigned half a year, whose name survives on one document and one foundation hole.