How archaeology can increase your life expectancy by 40%! For centuries, popular perceptions of the Great Pyramid’s construction have hinged on Herodotos reference to “twenty years.” While historians have debated that, hard evidence on the reign of Khufu (and its length) has always been fragmentary. In the past ten years, though, things have changed substantially. We now have strong evidence that Khufu reigned much longer than the “twenty years” story. This fundamentally changes our understanding of the period, and the Great Pyramid project…More information:

Episode image: Khufu, small ivory statuette from Abydos (Egyptian Exploration Society archives).

The Memorial/Mortuary Temple of Khufu at Wikimedia Commons.

New blocks from the Khufu Memorial Temple: Hawass, Lehner, and Jones, ‘The Great Pyramid Temple Project’, AERAGram 21 (2020), 10—17 (free download).

Decorated blocks of Khufu, reused in later pyramids: Goedicke 1971, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (free download).

M. Lehner and Z. A. Hawass, Giza and the Pyramids (2017).

F. Monnier and D. Lightbody, The Great Pyramid 2590 BC Onwards: Operations Manual (2019).

P. Tallet and M. Lehner, The Red Sea Scrolls: How Ancient Papyri Reveal the Secrets of the Pyramids (2021).

M. Verner, The Pyramids: The Archaeology and History of Egypt’s Iconic Monuments (2020).

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