This page is deliberately kept short: a sequence of dates, nothing more. For the context, there are separate pages, which are referenced at the end.
A preliminary note is nevertheless necessary, because it applies to every single line. The dates before the Greek period are estimates. They are based on king lists, from which calculations are made, and different chronologies produce results that differ by decades. What is certain is the order, not the year.
A second note concerns the selection. A timeline of this site could have a hundred entries, because for millennia there was continuous digging, building, looting, and writing. Included here is what changed the visible state of the site or shifted the state of knowledge about it. Purely scientific individual finds without such an effect are deliberately omitted.
From the Greek period onward, it becomes more precise, and from the 18th century, it is accurate to the day. A date like 1798 is a fact, a date like 2550 BC is a well-founded estimate. Both appear in the same list, and this difference should be kept in mind.
Plateau entrance as a QR code on your phone
Traces from almost all eras of this list lie in the regular ticket area, from the quarry to the demolition notch.
From rocky ridge to World Heritage
- around 2600 BC
Burials already take place on the rocky ridge before pyramid construction begins.
- around 2550 BC
Construction begins on the largest complex under Khufu. The quarry to the south is developed.
- around 2530 BC
Khafre builds the middle complex. The Sphinx is carved from the rock, and the temple in front is built from the rubble.
- around 2500 BC
Menkaure begins the smallest complex. It remains unfinished and is completed by his successor in mudbrick.
- around 2200 BC
The central authority collapses, the funerary cult ends, and the chambers are likely cleared out during this period.
- around 1400 BC
The sand-covered Sphinx is uncovered, and a stele is erected between its paws. The site becomes a pilgrimage destination.
- around 450 BC
Herodotus visits Egypt and records the claim of twenty years of construction, which is still cited today.
- around 820 AD
A tunnel is driven into the north flank of the largest pyramid. It remains the entrance to this day.
- from the 12th century
Systematic removal of the casing as building material for Cairo.
- 1196
An attempt to demolish the smallest pyramid is abandoned after eight months, leaving a notch.
- 1737
A Danish traveler draws the Sphinx on site. The nose is already missing.
- 1798 to 1801
The French expedition systematically surveys and draws. The result appears as a monumental volume of plates.
- 1818
Belzoni is the first European of the modern era to enter the burial chamber of the middle pyramid. It is empty.
- 1837
Vyse and Perring work with gunpowder, open the relieving chambers, and find the names of the work gangs there.
- 1880 to 1882
Flinders Petrie surveys the site for the first time with modern accuracy.
- from 1902
The longest series of excavations on the site begins, lasting over thirty-five years.
- 1925
Discovery of a sealed shaft with gilded equipment and an empty sarcophagus.
- 1925 to 1936
The Sphinx is completely cleared of sand and secured.
- 1954
A boat pit is opened. Inside lies a disassembled ship made of cedar wood.
- 1979
The pyramid fields from Giza to Dahshur are jointly declared a World Heritage Site.
- 2017
A large void above the Grand Gallery is published, detected using muon measurements.
- 2021
The first ship is moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum. The boat museum on the plateau closes.
- 2025
New visitor regulations with a relocated main entrance and a driving ban on the site. In November, the Grand Egyptian Museum opens.
All dates before the Greek period are estimates with an uncertainty of decades. The order is certain.
Why the early dates fluctuate
Why the early dates fluctuate can be said in one sentence: there is no continuous calendar.
Egypt counted by the regnal years of individual kings. To derive an absolute date from this, one must add up the reigns of all rulers up to a known reference point, and in doing so, gaps, damaged lists, and periods with multiple simultaneous rulers accumulate. The chain is anchored to astronomical events that can be calculated backwards.
Adding to the difficulty, the most important of these lists is damaged. A papyrus that records rulers and regnal years over centuries disintegrated as early as the 19th century into hundreds of fragments, which have been sorted ever since. Sections are missing precisely for the early dynasties. Every reconstruction of the king list must bridge these gaps, and depending on the assumption, the result shifts.
The dating of the pyramids of Giza is therefore not a single number but a corridor. A common king list places the reign of the greatest builder at around 2550 to 2530 BC, while other counts are a few decades earlier. Anyone passing on a year should therefore round.
What the distribution of entries shows
A look at the distribution is worthwhile because it shifts the usual picture.
Of the twenty-three entries above, three concern construction. Everything else belongs to the aftermath: cult, collapse, re-worship, stone robbery, surveying, excavation, protection. Construction is the occasion for this timeline, but not its content.
Equally striking are the gaps. Between the end of the cult around 2200 BC and the uncovering of the Sphinx about eight hundred years later, there is not a single entry, and this is not an oversight: for this period, there are practically no sources for the site. The same applies to large parts of the Middle Ages. A timeline therefore does not show when something happened, but when someone wrote about it.
Also striking is the density at the end. Between 1798 and today, there are more entries than in the three and a half thousand years before, and this is not because more happened, but because it was recorded. For the long silent stretches in between, there are simply no sources.
Since 1979, the entire landscape has been protected as a World Heritage Site. This is the provisional last status change of a place that has already been a construction site, cult site, ruin, quarry, and excavation.
Frequently asked questions
How certain are the early dates?
They carry an uncertainty of decades because they are calculated back from king lists. The order of events, however, is certain.
Why do different sources give different dates?
Because several chronologies are in use side by side. Differences of twenty to fifty years are normal and not an error.
What is the oldest certain date?
It only becomes certain in the sense of a recorded date with the Greek accounts from the fifth century BC onward. Everything before that is calculated.
What has changed most recently?
In 2025, visitor operations were reorganized, with a relocated main entrance and a driving ban on the site. In November 2025, the Grand Egyptian Museum opened.