Old Kingdom
Neferefre (Raneferef)
5th Dynasty · 2494-2345 BCE
Open full-size illustration →Background
Neferefre, also called Raneferef, ruled briefly in Dynasty 5 and began a pyramid complex at Abusir that was left unfinished. Excavation of the complex produced papyri and cult material that illuminate royal mortuary practice, even though the ruler’s political history remains largely unknown. The unfinished monument has often been used to infer a short reign; that is plausible, but it is not an exact regnal measurement. He belonged to the Abusir sequence of Fifth Dynasty kings and continued its solar and funerary traditions. His evidence shows how administrative records can survive even where a royal building programme did not reach completion. Research: Metropolitan Museum; Abusir archaeology.
Chronology: Shaw, Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000)
Full profile
The unfinished monument
Neferefre also experienced a very short reign, dying unexpectedly in his early twenties. Due to his sudden death, his pyramid at Abusir was hastily abandoned and converted into a flat, square mastaba so he could be buried without delay. Despite its unfinished state, archaeologists discovered a massive cache of papyri and beautifully preserved statues of the king inside his hastily constructed mortuary temple.