Current consensus amongst Egyptologists is that 28 of the 87 pyramid complexes were built during the 3rd–6th Dynasties. Each large pyramid with its associated “satellite” pyramids, temples, enclosure wall, causeway, village, and cemetery has become associated with a particular pharaoh and is believed to have been built during his lifetime. The first of these stone monuments, the step pyramid at Saqqara, is attributed to Djoser (Zoser), 2nd pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty.

Besides design, engineering, project infrastructure, labor management and materials administration, they quarried, moved, dressed, fitted and mortared 75% (roughly 22 million tons) of all the stone used in the 500 years of the pyramid age. The 4th Dynasty is credited with having built the 7 largest and most enduring of the pyramids, 5 of which are the only intact ones left. The first monarch of this lineage, Snofru, is credited with building at least two pyramids using almost 9 million tons of stone during his reign of 44 years.

The Bent Pyramid at Dahshur, attributed to Snofru

Three of the largest 4th Dynasty pyramids and several large temples were cased in granite, much of it brought from Aswan, 500 miles to the south. At Giza huge limestone blocks were used, many weighing 100 or more tons each. The list of unprecedented engineering “firsts“ ascribed to this lineage is lengthy. The 4th Dynasty is credited with all the major construction at Dashur, Abu Roash, Zawiyet el Aryan, and the Giza Plateau. At the end of this Dynasty, the skills seem to have been lost. The pyramids built later were not of the same extraordinary quality and none are still intact. Although many of the pyramids contain a stone box or “sarcophagus”, no royal burials have been found in any pyramid in Egypt.