Egyptologists have found the lost fourth pyramid in Giza

Cairo - It was the tallest and the best materials were used for its construction. It was destroyed by the Romans, who used its stones for buildings in Cairo. It is the lost fourth pyramid in the Giza valley, which archaeologists found after 12 years of digging, wrote the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
    This pyramid was built during the reign of Pharaoh Radjedef, which ended in 2556 BC. It was the most majestic of all four that could be seen from the banks of the Nile.
    An international team of archaeologists discovered that the ruins in Abu Rawash just a few kilometers from the Egyptian metropolis correspond to the so-called lost pyramid. "This pyramid was the tallest of all four in Giza (the others belong to Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure) and its stones were of the best quality. For a long time, it was assumed that it was not completed, but we have proven that this is not the case. Stones from it were used for centuries in the construction of Cairo," pointed out the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass.
    "We have been digging here for the last 12 years and have uncovered a significant part of the history of the fourth dynasty, the power struggles, and part of the mystery of pyramid construction," he added.
    The ruins of the mysterious Radjedef's pyramid today do not exceed a height of ten meters above the ground. They are located on a rise in Abu Rawash, a military area with restricted access. Surrounding it is a desolate desert and on the horizon, a dark cloud of Cairo smog.
    From the haze rises the trio of Giza pyramids, which according to archaeologists was never connected to this majestic structure.
    Hawass is convinced that Khufu's son chose this location somewhat distant from Giza, the burial ground of his dynasty, because he wanted to be independent from his family; moreover, the high location would bring his tomb closer to the sun, his deity.
    Recent findings show that Radjedef’s pyramid was 7.62 meters taller than Khufu's, which rises to a height of 146 meters. Each side at the base measured 122 meters and the angle of inclination was 64 degrees, but the deviation prevented it from collapsing.
    Limestone and red granite from Aswan were used for its construction, just as in the construction of his father's pyramid. The material was transported from an 800-kilometer distance along the Nile and to Abu Rawash via large troughs. Using hard dolerite stone, it was broken into blocks, which were shaped precisely thanks to copper saws with quartz blades. Each piece of this massive puzzle weighed up to 25 tons and required 370 people to move it.
    Most of the workers who came to Abu Rawash during the eight years of construction, about 15,000, were farmers who worked on the building during the time when the rising level of the Nile flooded their fields. "When they started construction, they made marks on the stones with red ink," explained Egyptologist Hasan Abdar Raziq.
    A deep fissure in the ground, which formed a descent into the underground chamber, is now uncovered under the open sky and served as evidence that mortar was used in the first phase to reinforce the interior, where the pharaoh was to rest on his journey to the afterlife.
    Outside, the ground was strewn with fragments of small vessels used for offerings to Radjedef. Abdar Raziq also showed the place where several broken statues of the pharaoh were discovered, as well as ruins of a building, most likely a temple.
    The pyramid was covered with polished granite and an alloy of gold, silver, and copper, which shone in the sun as a sign of power.
    The pyramid in Abu Rawash will be accessible for visitors starting next year, but only from the outside.